BR  560  .N37  A5 

Newport  Historical  Society 

(Newport ,  R.I.) 
Early  religious  leaders  of 

M- J 


MAY  18  1953 


Early  Religious  Leaders 
of  Newport 


Eight  Addresses  delivered  before  the 

Newport  Historical  Society 

1917 


Newport,  Rhode  Island 

Published  by 

The  Newport  Historical  Society 

1918 


MERCURY  PUBLISHING   CO.  -^ 

NEWPORT.  R.  I.  Vl 

1918  I 

o 

y 


PREFACE 

The  religious  element  in  the  history  of  Newport  can  never  be 
neglected  by  one  who  seeks  to  obtain  a  fair  impression  of  the  purposes 
and  acts  of  its  first  settlers  and  the  events  which  naturally  followed. 

Driven  from  the  colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay  by  inability  to  accept 
the  narrow  religious  conditions  there  imposed  upon  them,  the  founders 
of  Portsmouth  and  Newport  made  welcome  to  their  settlements  people 
of  every  faith  and  form  of  worship ;  thereby  giving  what  is  perhaps 
the  first  instance  in  the  history  of  the  world  of  a  free  and  independent 
community  separating  absolutely  civil  rights  from  religious  opinions. 

As  might  be  imagined  it  was  but  a  few  years  before  this  invitation 
was  known  and  accepted ;  and  the  little  city  of  Newport  soon  found 
among  its  citizens  not  only  the  Baptists  and  the  Congregationalists,  the 
first  settlers  of  the  city,  but  also  Friends,  Hebrews,  Moravian  Brethren, 
the  Church  of  England,  and  the  followers  of  George  Whitefield,  who 
soon  organized  a  Methodist  Church. 

The  history  of  Newport  proves  that  this  broad  and  liberal  policy 
was  wise  as  well  as  just.  These  men  of  different  faiths,  some  of  them 
subject  to  constant  persecution  in  other  colonies,  proved  themselves  most 
useful,  and  patriotic,  many  bringing  to  the  city  wealth  and  a  love  of 
literature  and  of  the  arts. 


CONTENTS 


(Note— The  following  papers  are  arraiip:ed  in  the  order,  approximately,  of  the  e.stal)lish- 
meut  ill  Newport  of  the  difTerciit  religions  Ijodies  represented.) 


DR.  JOHN   CLARKE  Page    5 

By  Rev.  FRANKLIN   G.  McKEEVER,  D.D. 

Pastor  Second  Baptist  Church,  Newport 
Paper  read  before  the  Society  May  S,  1Q17 

THE   RELIGIOUS  SOCIETY   OF  FRIENDS  .        Page  21 

By  Dr.  WILLIAM   J.  HULL 

Professor  of  History,  Swarthmore  College 

Paper  read  before  the  Society  August  14,  1917 

REV.  DR.  SAMUEL  HOPKINS  ....        Page  5  1 

By  Rev.  CLARIS   EDWIN   SILCOX 

Pastor  United  Congregational  Church,  Newport 
Paper  read  before  the  Society,  February  6.  1917 

VERY   REV.  DEAN   GEORGE   BERKELEY,  D.D.         Page  77 

By  Rev.  STANLEY   C.  HUGHES 

Rector  Trinity  Church,  Newport 
Paper  read  before  the  Society,  March  6,  igiy 

THE  SEPHARDIC  JEWS  OF   NEWPORT      .        .        Page  97 
By  Rev.  J.  PEREIRA   MENDES,  D.D. 

Pastor  Synagogue  Shearith  Israel,  New  York 
Paper  read  before  the  Society,  June  12,  1917 

REV.  GEORGE  WHITEFIELD         ....        Page  1 1  3 

By  Rev.  WILLIAM   1.  WARD 

Pastor  First  Methodist  Church,  Newport 
Paper  read  before  the  Society,  January  2,  1917 

REV.  DR.  WILLIAM   ELLERY  CHANNING  .        Page  125 

By  Rev.  WILLIAM   SAFFORD   JONES 

Pastor  Channing  Memorial  Church,  Newport 
Paper  read  before  the  Society.  April  3,  C917 

REV.  DR.  EZRA  STILES Page  149 

By  Rev.  RODERICK   TERRY,  D.D. 

Vice  President  of  the  Society 

Paper  read  before  the  Society,  July  lo,  1917 


Dr.  JOHN  CLARKE 


A  Paper  read  before  the  Newport  Historical  Society 
May  8th,  1917 


By 
Rev.  franklin    G.  McKEEVER,  D.D. 


JOHN  CLARKE 

Biography  is  the  recounting  of  the  facts  of  a  human  life 
in  their  historical  relation.  Rightly  to  weigh  these  facts  and 
trace  their  consequences,  one  must  acquaint  himself  with 
their  antecedent  inspiration,  as  well  as  with  the  history  of 
events  in  the  midst  of  which  they  found  expression.  In  this 
task  the  biographer  will  be  influenced  and  guided  by  the 
known  character,  inherited  or  acquired,  of  the  person  of 
whoin  he  writes. 

John  Clarke  was  born  in  Westhorp,  Suffolk,  England, 
October  8,  1609.  From  his  ancestors,  through  many  genera- 
tions, he  must  have  inherited  a  love  of  liberty:  for  the  spirit 
of  liberty  had  been  long  on  the  wing,  seeking  for  noble  souls 
of  such  ample  mold  as  to  be  able  to  receive  his  afflatus.  For 
more  than  a  century  and  a  half,  the  thoughtful  of  Europe 
had  been  awakening  from  the  sleep  of  ages,  until  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  seventeenth  century,  tyranny  over  body  or 
mind,  tenaciously  exercised  by  the  strong  arm  of  secular  and 
ecclesiastical  power,  was  intolerable  longer,  to  men  who 
claimed  the  God-given  right  to  think.  Such  was  John 
Wycliffe,  who  on  finishing  his  translation  of  tlie  Scriptures 
into  the  English  tongue,  exultantly  offered  to  the  plowman 
an  equal  opportunity  with  the  Priest  to  know  the  will  of  God. 
Never  before  had  the  English  people  felt  such  thrills  of  self- 
conscious  power  and  holy  ambition  to  free  themselves  from 
the  chains  that  bound  the  soul,  as  when  they  became  ac- 
quainted with  the  dealings  of  God  with  ancient  nations,  and 
the  incomparable  moral  ideals  of  Jesus  and  his  apostles.  The 
multiplication  of  printed  Bibles  following  the  invention  of 
movable  types  by  a  far-seeing  German  genius  had  made  this 
possible,  and  set  astir  not  only  England  but  the  whole  west- 
ern world  like  an  awakened  giant  conscious  of  his  powers. 
The  sixteenth  century  was  still  young  when  the  Monk  of 
Wittenberg  defied  the  Holy  See,  set  an  example  of  independ- 
ence in  speech  and  thought,  and  proclaimed  to  all  the  civil- 


ized  world  a  message  of  personal  responsibility  to 
God,  and  therefore  personal  freedom  from  all  who  inter- 
pose themselves  between  God  and  the  soul:  thus  laying  the 
corner-stone  of  a  new  civilization.  The  Renaissance  whetted 
ambition  to  a  fine  edge,  and  the  domination  of  scholasticism 
and  feudalism,  and  of  the  church  in  secular  matters,  was 
over-powered  by  the  onrush  of  nationalism  and  humanism. 
Discovery  and  adventure  became  a  passion.  A  new  heavens 
and  a  new  earth  invited  the  emancipated  spirit  of  mankind 
to  new  prowess.  The  artist,  the  philosopher,  the  scientist,  the 
statesman,  the  scholar,  had  his  first  inspiration  to  move  in 
the  realm  of  liberty.  The  great  universities  became  the  Mecca 
of  favored  sons  of  fortune,  but  humbler  spirits  also  claimed 
the  right  to  think;  especially  in  those  spheres  which  con- 
cerned their  temporal  and  eternal  well-being — religion  and 
government.  Encouraged  by  the  benign  and  brilliant  Eliza- 
beth, freedom  unfurled  a  flag  never  again  to  be  folded  while 
there  should  be  men  on  earth  willing  to  sacrifice  comfort  and 
even  life  to  realize  the  heaven-born  principle  of  liberty  in 
state  and  church. 

But  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  spirit  of  freedom 
had  smothered  forever  the  fires  of  tyranny  and  persecution. 
James  I,  succeeded  Elizabeth  to  the  throne  in  1603.  Puritan- 
ism had  appeared  as  early  as  the  reign  of  Edward  VI.  Eliza- 
beth, a  Protestant  at  heart,  pursued  for  state  policy,  a  tem- 
porizing course  toward  the  Papacy  and  disappointed  the 
hopes  of  her  Puritan  subjects,  extreme  Protestants  that  they 
were,  who  boldly  taught  that  the  church  and  state  were  en- 
dowed with  separate  and  distinct  functions  which  were 
never  intended  to  be  united,  and  that  "conscience  and  not  the 
power  of  man  will  drive  men  to  seek  the  Lord's  Kingdom." 
James  I,  an  extreme  reactionist  and  pronounced  bigot,  em- 
ployed his  great  power  to  compel  all  his  subjects  to  respect 
the  Roman  doctrine  and  liturgy,  saying  of  the  Puritans:  "I 
will  make  them  conform,  or  I  will  harry  them  out  of  my 
kingdom."  The  record  of  persecutions  and  martyrdoms  in 
that  reign  is  a  dark  blot  on  the  pages  of  Christian  history. 
The  most  painful  sufferers  in  that  period  of  madness  were 
the  Puritans,  of  whom  Macaulay  says :  "The  hardy  sect  grew 
up  and  flourished  in  spite  of  every  thing  that  seemed  likely 


9 

to  stunt  it,  struck  its  roots  into  a  barren  soil,  and  spread  its 
branches  wide  to  an  inclement  sky." 

Into  this  environment  came  John  Clarke.  Of  his  pro- 
genitors we  know  little.  But  it  is  not  difficult  for  the  imagina- 
tion to  summon  them  back  to  our  company  from  the  long 
past.  That  they  did  not  lack  material  possessions;  that  they 
prized  intellectual  and  spiritual  riches  higher  than  the  ma- 
terial, w^e  may  justly  infer  from  the  record  of  their  illustrious 
son:  "a  man  of  liberal  education  and  of  bland  and  courtly 
manners."  "One  of  the  ablest  men  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury." "A  scholar  bred."  Unhappily,  we  have  no  reliable  rec- 
ord as  to  where  John  Clarke  received  his  education  but  facts 
well  substantiated,  prove  him  to  have  been  a  man  or  learning 
far  above  the  average  of  his  time.  He  is  describee'  as  a  jnan 
of  high  repute  for  ability  and  scholarship  in  languages,  in- 
cluding Latin,  Greek  and  Hebrew,  law,  medicine  and  theol- 
ogy. In  his  will  he  bequeathed  to  a  friend,  "my  Concordance 
and  Lexicon  to  it  belonging,  written  by  myself,  being  the 
fruit  of  several  years  study;  my  Hebrew  Bibles,  Buxtorf's 
and  Pastor's  Lexicon,  Cotton's  Concordance,  and  all  the  rest 
of  my  books."  The  Lexicon  written  by  himself,  to  which  ref- 
erence is  here  made,  is  believed  to  be  the  one  now  preserved 
in  the  library  of  Harvard  University.  These,  and  other  liter- 
ary works  assure  us  that  Clarke  was  a  man  of  learned  tastes 
and  attainments.  Up  to  the  time  of  his  leaving  England  he 
was  doubtless  in  sympathy  with  Puritan  views:  for  with 
them  the  contemptuously  styled  Anabaptists  of  the  time  held 
natural  affinity,  drinking  together  at  the  fountain  of  soul 
liberty. 

John  Clarke  came  to  Massachusetts  in  September,  1637, 
when  that  colony  was  but  seven  years  from  its  birth.  The  re- 
ligious controversy  which  he  found  on  landing  in  Boston, 
seems  in  the  main,  trivial  to  us  now.  But  it  was  such  as  to 
induce  bitterest  strife  and  kindle  the  fires  of  torture  and 
exile,  which  the  state-church  was  not  slow  to  employ.  Anne 
Hutchinson,  keen  minded,  brave  spirited,  was  the  fearless 
advocate  of  a  free  church  in  a  free  state.  Her  followers, 
among  whom  were  William  Coddington,  John  Clarke,  and 
many  other  well-to-do  and  intelligent  citizens,  were  being 
first  disarmed  and  bereft  of  protection  against  the  savages, 


10 

and  then  banished  from  the  colony.  It  is  not  germain  to  our 
subject  to  enter  at  length  into  this  not  too  proud  chapter  in 
our  colonial  history.  It  has  been  facetiously  said,  that  the 
Puritans  on  landing  in  the  new  world,  "first  fell  on  their 
knees,  and  then  on  the  aborigines."  Certain  it  is  that  the 
leaders  among  the  Puritans  of  John  Clarke's  day,  intro- 
duced, or  rather  imported  from  the  old  world,  a  galling 
tyranny,  practiced  in  New  England  upon  others  the  abuses 
that  they  had  come  far  to  escape,  and  refused  to  others  the 
right  to  differ  from  them  in  religious  faith  and  practice.  It 
was  a  long  time  ago.  Listening  to  its  recital  seems  like  hear- 
ing a  lingering  echo  of  the  Dark  Ages. 

With  the  sentence  of  banishment  and  torture  impend- 
ing, the  liberty  party  of  Boston  resolved  to  find  and  found  a 
new  home  in  the  yet  untried  wilderness,  and  endeavor  to 
win  the  friendship  of  savage  chiefs.  To  the  heart  of  at  least 
one  man  of  that  party,  peace  was  a  boon  worthy  to  be  cov- 
eted and  secured  even  at  the  cost  of  protracted  hardship 
and  privation.  This  man  was  John  Clarke.  He  was  chosen  to 
seek  out  an  ejigible  place  for  settlement.  Chilled  by  the  rigors 
of  a  New  England  winter,  and  having  previously  essayed  a 
more  northerly  latitude,  his  party  set  sail  from  Boston  in  the 
spring  of  1638,  with  their  eyes  either  on  Long  Island  or  the 
coast  of  Delaware.  But  while  their  vessel  was  rounding  Cape 
Cod,  Clarke  with  some  companions  determined  to  journey 
overland,  "to  a  town  called  Providence  ....  which  was  be- 
gun by  one  M.  Roger  Williams,  who  for  matter  of  conscience 
had  not  long  before  been  exiled  from  the  former  jurisdic- 
tion." Williams  received  the  explorers  hospitably,  and  of- 
fered valuable  suggestions  as  to  two  tracts  of  territory  near  at 
hand :  Sowames,  now  Warwick,  and  Aquidneck,  now  Rhode 
Island.  Ascertaining  with  Williams'  aid  that  the  former 
lay  within  the  Patent  of  Plymouth,  and  resolving,  "through 
the  help  of  Christ,  to  get  rid  of  all  and  be  by  ourselves,"  they 
investigated  the  prospect  of  the  latter.  And  finding  that 
Island  unencumbered  by  English  settlers,  they,  still  with  the 
aid  of  Mr.  Williams,  set  about  procuring  its  possession.  In 
a  fair  and  friendly  way  they,  in  no  long  time,  succeeded  in 
purchasing  Aquidneck  on  the  following  terms:  the  payment 
of  forty  fathoms  of  white  beads,  to  be  equally  divided  be- 


11 

tween  the  two  chiefs,  Canonicus  and  Miantonomoh;  to- 
gether with  ten  coats  and  twenty  hose,  to  be  distributed 
among  the  natives  on  condition  that  they  remove  from  the 
Island  before  the  next  winter.  The  wily  Coddington,  of  whom 
we  shall  have  more  to  say  further  on,  succeeded  in  having 
the  deed  made  to  him,  personally.  But  this  action  he  was 
later  compelled  to  retract. 

We  may  now  accompany  the  adventurers  to  their  new- 
ly acquired  possession,  and  see  what  manner  of  life  they 
devised  for  themselves  in  the  new  world.  Here  we  become 
acquainted  with  the  invaluable  services  of  John  Clarke  as 
a  citizen.  He  is  now  twenty-nine  years  of  age,  strong  in  body, 
cultivated  in  mind,  and  possessed  of  a  well-developed  moral 
sense,  to  which  the  liberty  of  the  soul  of  every  man  in  things 
pertaining  to  God,  made  strong  appeal. 

Before  setting  out  from  Boston,  eighteen  dissenters  from 
the  Established  Church  there — eighteen  of  the  seventy-six 
who  had  been  disarmed  because  of  suspicion  that  they  might 
use  their  weapons  in  defense  against  the  decrees  of  the 
court — formed  a  compact,  which  they  would  use  in  their  new 
home,  as  yet  "not  knowing  whither  they  went."  This  agree- 
ment reads  as  follows :  "We  whose  names  are  underwritten, 
do  here  solemnly,  in  the  presence  of  Jehovah,  incorporate 
ourselves  into  a  Bodie  Politick,  and  as  He  shall  help,  will 
submit  ourselves,  lives  and  estates,  unto  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  the  King  of  Kings  and  Lord  of  Lords,  and  to  all  those 
proper  and  most  absolute  laws  of  His  given  in  His  holy  word 
of  truth;  to  be  guided  and  judged  thereby." 

John  Clarke's  name  is  the  second  signature  to  this  com- 
pact. Passages  of  Scripture  affixed  to  it  turn  our  thoughts  to 
Clarke  as  its  probable  author.  These  passages  are:  Exodus 
24:3;  H  Chronicles  11:3,4;  II  Kings  11:17.  The  first  of  these 
passages  bases  civil  government  on  divine  law.  The  second 
teaches  that  religious  differences  shall  not  disturb  the  har- 
mony of  the  state.  The  third  affirms  principles  long  before 
held  by  Baptists,  that  while  rendering  obedience  to  the  state 
in  civil  matters,  Christians  must  be  subject,  in  matters  of 
religion  and  conscience,  only  to  Christ  who  is  their  King  and 
Law-giver. 

It  is  not  without  reason  conjectured  that  the  author  of 


12 

this  first  compact  was  Jolin  Clarke.  He  was  the  principal  re- 
ligious teacher  of  the  company.  By  his  advice  they  were  re- 
moving from  the  Massachusetts  jurisdiction  to  enjoy  free- 
dom of  their  consciences,  and  repeatedly  thereafter  he 
taught:  "the  servant  of  the  Lord  must  not  strive." 

When  all  material  affairs  relating  to.  the  purchase  and 
settlement  of  Aquidneck  had  been  legally  and  amicably  ar- 
ranged with  the  natives,  the  immigrants  from  Massachusetts 
proceeded  to  establish  themselves  first  on  the  northern  end 
of  the  Island,  at  Pocassett.  Evidences  of  their  industry  in 
that  locality  still  exist  in  wells,  etc.,  there  preserved.  The 
company  proceeded  in  orderly  way  to  distribute  the  lands, 
provide  military  defence,  open  highways,  collect  revenues, 
hold  assemblies,  and  elect  civil  officers.  Breaches  of  the  law 
of  God  that  tend  to  civil  disturbance  came  under  the  juris- 
diction of  the  civil  authorities.  No  religious  tests  appear  in 
any  laws  then  or  thereafter  enacted.  Liberty  in  the  matter 
of  conscience  was  accorded  to  all  comers.  This  broad  plat- 
form attracted  large  numbers  to  the  Island,  and  as  was  to 
be  expected,  these  additions  varied  in  character  as  in  all 
new  settlements.  True  however  to  Puritan  instincts,  the 
leaders  set  up  as  one  of  their  very  first  acts,  a  place  of 
worship.  The  settlement  consisted  of  people  of  various  theo- 
logical and  ecclesiastical  persuasions,  but  all  united  in  wor- 
ship under  John  Clarke,  a  Baptist  Elder,  (as  ministers  of 
that  denomination  were  then  called,)  as  preacher  and  relig- 
ious teacher.  For,  as  one  remarks,  "the  mind  of  John  Clarke, 
balanced,  constructive,  persuasive,  was  in  the  front  rank  at 
least,  if  not  foremost  of  the  leaders."  It  was  inevitable  that 
many  would  follow  his  teaching  and  become  Baptists.  Yet 
great  as  was  his  influence,  inherent  in  the  office  of  the  re- 
ligious minister  of  that  period,  rigorous  discipline  had  to 
be  maintained,  and  the  customary  penal  institutions  of  the 
day  were  found  necessary.  Breaches  of  the  law  were  not  in- 
frequent, and  side  by  side  with  the  church  were  set  up  a 
prison,  a  pair  of  stocks  and  a  whipping  post;  while  fines 
for  offenses  that  now  seem  to  us  puerile  were  imposed  by  the 
magistrate.  These,  however,  were  but  eddies,  incident  to 
the  coming  of  some  vicious  and  troublesome  elements  into 
the  settlement.  The  larger  part  were  orderly  and  valuable 
citizens. 


13 

But  the  whole  Island  of  Aquidneck  invited  the  exploring 
impulses  of  the  settlers  at  Pocassett.  Before  a  twelvemonth, 
John  Clarke,  along  with  a  few  companions,  had  traversed  all 
the  shores  of  the  Island,  and  conceiving  its  southern  end 
more  inviting  to  permanent  plans  of  a  colony,  they  founded 
here,  in  the  spring  of  1639,  a  settlement  which  they  called 
Newport,  having  first  rechristened  their  whole  purchase, 
"the  Isle  of  Rhodes,"  from  the  Island  of  that  name  in  the 
Mediterranean  Sea.  Before  another  year  had  passed  there 
were  found  to  be  about  two  hundred  families  in  the  New- 
port settlement.  John  Clarke,  with  two  assistants,  had  been 
commissioned  to  survey  and  apportion  the  lands  to  a  dis- 
tance of  five  miles,  and  all  the  arrangements  of  an  orderly 
government  had  been  instituted.  Not  the  least  of  these  was 
the  provision  for  religious  worship.  Religious  toleration  pre- 
vailed, spite  of  denominational  differences.  There  were, 
amongst  the  settlers.  Baptists  from  England,  members  of 
John  Cotton's  church  in  Boston  who  had  adopted  Baptist 
sentiments,  and  others  in  a  state  of  transition.  To  the  whole 
of  this  heterogeneous  population  Dr.  Clarke  ministered  in 
religious  things.  We  do  not  read  of  serious  disagreement 
as  to  their  beliefs  for  many  years,  and  there  appears  to  have 
been  no  neglect  of  social  worship.  A  despised  and  persecu- 
ted sect  both  in  England  and  in  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Col- 
ony, the  Baptists  of  Rhode  Island  exhibited  a  tolerant  and 
catholic  spirit  in  their  new  home,  and  the  settlers  showed 
their  appreciation  of  it  by  accepting  John  Clarke  both  as 
civil  and  religious  leader.  Amongst  his  hearers  on  the  Sab- 
bath were,  without  doubt,  William  Coddington,  first  elected 
judge,  Anne  Hutchinson,  the  reformer,  two  brothers  of  the 
minister,  and  not  a  few  others  whose  names  are  perpetuated 
in  the  honored  families  of  the  Island  to  this  day. 

At  exactly  what  date  a  church  was  instituted,  avowing 
the  principles  and  using  the  practice  of  Baptists,  we  do  not 
know,  for  the  early  records  are  not  preserved.  "But,"  as  an 
historian  of  the  First  Baptist  Church  of  Newport  remarks, 
"while  the  date  of  its  origin  is  veiled  in  obscurity,  there  is 
no  uncertainty  as  to  its  first  minister, "^  a  position  which  Dr. 
Clarke  adorned  to  the  close  of  his  life. 

While  thus  engaged,  and  also  practicing  his  profession 


14 

as  a  physician,  this  Christian  minister  was  the  inspirer  and 
organizer  of  most  if  not  all  the  advance  movements  in  civic 
affairs.  He  not  only  occupied  at  different  times,  responsible 
oftices  under  the  government,  but  he  is  with  good  reason  sup- 
posed to  be  the  potential  author  of  the  government  itself. 
The  first  aggressive  move  for  a  charter  for  the  Island  of 
Aquidneck  and  adjacent  Islands  and  lands  was  made  in 
1642,  when  a  committee  of  whom  John  Clarke  was  a  mem- 
ber was  appointed  to  draw  up  a  petition  to  Parliament,  and 
at  the  same  time  to  seek  the  assistance  of  Sir  Henry  Vane, 
then  influential  at  court.  Previous  to  this,  endeavors  to  the 
same  end  had  been  made  by  Clarke  himself,  almost  unaided. 
When  five  years  later,  1647,  Rhode  Island  became  a  State 
under  a  charter  accredited  by  many  to  the  efforts  of  Roger 
Williams,  its  provisions  and  code  of  laws  are  declared  by 
Williams  himself,  to  be  modeled  after  those  in  force  in 
Newport.  It  is  supposed,  and  for  good  reasons,  that  John 
Clarke  was  the  author  of  the  government  framed:  both  of 
the  code  of  laws  and  of  the  means  of  enforcing  it.  That  code 
concludes  with  these  words :  "And  otherwise  than  thus  what 
is  herein  forbidden,  all  men  may  walk  as  their  consciences 
persuade  them,  every  one  in  the  name  of  his  God.  And  let 
the  saints  of  the  Most  High  walk  in  this  colony  without  mo- 
lestation, in  the  name  of  Jehovah  their  God,  forever  and 
ever." 

While  Dr.  Clarke  was  thus  busy  with  weighty  affairs  of 
state,  we  find  him  engaged  in  tasks  which  he  must  have  re- 
garded as  of  quite  equal  moment.  Now  he  is  in  Providence, 
endeavoring  to  resusitate  churches  otherwise  uncared  for; 
and  again,  making  fatiguing  journeys  to  minister  to  small 
groups  of  believers,  who,  not  finding  churches  of  their  faith 
within  easy  reach  had  continued  their  membership  with  the 
church  at  Newport,  Such  was  one  William  Witter,  aged, 
blind  and  infirm,  living  near  the  then  village  of  Lynn,  Mas- 
sachusetts. In  July,  1651,  he  entreated  his  pastor  to  visit  him 
and  administer  spiritual  consolation.  Taking  with  him  Obe- 
diah  Holmes  and  John  Crandall,  elders  connected  with  the 
church  in  Newport,  Dr.  Clarke  essayed  the  no  inconsidera- 
ble journey.  The  three  reached  Witter's  home  in  the  evening 
of  Saturday,  and  while  engaged  in  administering  the  duties 


15 

of  their  office  on  the  Sabbath,  they  were  arrested  on  a  war- 
rant issued  by  the  magistrate,  and  later  presented  before  the 
court  in  Boston.  The  charges  preferred  against  the  strangers 
were  concerned  with  teachings  contrary  to  those  of  the 
standing,  ecclesiastical  order.  Clarke  proposed  to  discuss 
publicly  their  differences,  but  he  was  summarily  and  rudely 
denied  that  privilege.  "Without  producing  either  accuser, 
witness,  jury^  law  of  God  or  man,"  Governor  John  Endicott 
pronounced  sentence  as  follows:  that  John  Clarke  should 
pay  a  fine  of  twenty  pounds  or  else  be  well  whipped;  that 
Obediah  Holmes  should  pay  a  fine  of  thirty  pounds  or  else 
be  well  whipped;  and  John  Crandall  should  pay  a  fine  of 
twenty  pounds  or  else  be  well  whipped.  Holmes  refused  to 
acknowledge  himself  a  crijiiinal  by  either  paying  his  fine  or 
permitting  any  one  to  pay  it  for  him.  "I  durst  not  accept  de- 
liverence  in  such  way,"  he  said.  The  record  of  how  he  was 
"unmercifully  whipped"  on  a  September  day  in  Boston,  two 
magistrates  being  present  to  see  it  done  severely;  how,  for 
taking  Holmes  by  the  hand  after  his  punishment,  two  spec- 
tators were  apprehended,  imprisoned,  and  sentenced  to  pay 
a  fine  of  forty  shillings  or  be  whipped,  is  one  of  the  shame- 
spots  in  Puritan  colonial  history.  Kind  friends  paid  the  fines 
of  Clarke  and  Crandall  without  their  consent,  and  the  latter 
was  at  once  released,  but  Clarke  was  held  in  custody  for 
some  time  afterward  when  he  also  was  released  "to  be  gone 
out  of  the  colony." 

On  his  return  to  Newport,  Dr.  Clarke  found  the  colony  in 
peril,  and  its  government  in  jeopardy.  William  Coddington 
was  president  of  the  four  united  towns  in  1648,  and  contin- 
ued in  that  office  until  the  execution  of  Charles  I,  in  1649.  In 
the  midst  of  the  confusion  incident  to  the  accession  of  the 
Commonwealth,  this  astute  politician  sailed  secretly  to  Eng- 
land, aind  succeeded  in  obtaining  a  commission  as  governor 
for  life,  of  the  Islands  of  Aquidneck  and  Conanicut,  thus  nul- 
lifying the  charter  of  1643.  The  whole  colony  was  moved  to 
a  high  degree  of  indignation,  and  in  1651,  the  two  men  most 
able  and  most  representative  of  the  people,  John  Clarke  for 
the  Rhode  Island  towns,  and  Roger  Williams  for  the  towns 
of  Warwick  and  Providence  Plantations,  were  despatched 
to  England  to  secure  the  withdrawal  of  Coddington's  com- 


16 

mission.  Their  mission  accomplished,  Wilhams  returned  to 
Providence  in  1654,  and  Clarke  remained  at  court  as  guar- 
dian of  the  interests  of  the  reunited  Commonwealth  at  home. 

And  then  began  an  epoch  in  this  great  man's  life,  which, 
for  diplomatic  etFiciency  and  self-sacrificing  devotion,  has 
seldom  been  equaled  in  the  annals  of  public  service.  Dr. 
Clarke  remained  in  England  twelve  years,  nearly  the  whole 
of  the  time  at  his  own  charges;  for  the  meager  appropriation 
of  two  hundred  pounds,  voted  by  the  colony,  was  not  col- 
lected till  long  after,  and  then  only  when  a  further  vote  pro- 
hibited the  payment  of  any  bills  until  this  debt,  increased 
to  three  hundred  and  forty-three  pounds  seventeen  shillings, 
was  paid.  Meantime  Clarke  was  obliged  to  mortgage  his 
property  at  home.  During  the  whole  period  he  was  engaged 
in  literary  and  ministerial  labors  to  eke  out  his  living,  while 
employed  specifically,  in  service  for  the  state.  Yet  his  life  at 
this  time  could  not  have  been  wholly  without  compensation, 
since  two  of  his  intimate  friends  and  helpers  of  his  plans 
were  Sir  Henry  Vane  and  John  Milton. 

The  year  after  reaching  England,  or  in  1652,  Dr.  Clarke 
published  a  book  entitled:  "111  Newes  from  New  England  or 
a  Narrative  of  New  England's  Persecutions."  In  this  volume 
it  is  declared  that  "while  old  Ej|igland  is  becoming  new.  New 
England  is  becoming  old."  And  in  this  volume  he  incorpora- 
ted the  substance  of  a  tract  previously  written,  entitled:  "A 
Brief  Discourse  Touching  New  England,  and  Particularly 
Rhode  Island,  as  also  a  Faithful  Relation  of  the  Prosecution 
of  Obediah  Holmes,  John  Crandall  and  John  Clarke,  merely 
for  Conscience  Toward  God,  by  the  Principle  Members  of 
the  Church  or  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts,  in  New 
England,  which  Rules  Over  that  Part  of  the  World." 

The  years  passed  on  and  Clarke  successfully  parried  the 
-deterinined  efforts  of  the  agents  of  the  other  colonies  to 
thwart  the  far  reaching  purposes  of  Rhode  Island  to  foster 
and  maintain  a  government  hospitable  to  religious  liberty. 
lOn  the  death  of  Cromwell,  and  the  accession  of  Charles  II, 
in  1660,  the  labor  of  years  would  probably  have  come  to 
naught  but  for  the  able  diplomacy  of  John  Clarke.  A  new 
charter  was  an  imperative  necessity,  if  Rhode  Island's  rights 
and  liberties  were  to  be  preserved.  To  this  task  Dr.  Clarke 


17 

unreservedly  addressed  himself.  He  appealed  by  letters  to 
the  King,  in  which  he  professed  the  loyalty  of  the  colony 
to  the  Crown,  and  argued  for  the  granting  of  a  charter  of 
civil  corporation.  His  constituents  would  establish  a  corpo- 
rate government  duly  protected  by  English  law,  so  far  forth 
as  the  nature  and  constitution  of  the  place  and  the  professed 
cause  of  their  consciences  would  permit.  "Your  petitioners 
have  it  much  on  their  hearts,"  he  says,  "to  hold  forth  a  live- 
ly experiment  that  a  flourishing  Civil  State  may  stand,  yea, 
and  best  be  maintained,  and  that  among  English  spirits, 
with  a  full  liberty  in  religious  concernments,  and  that  true 
piety,  rightly  grounded  upon  Gospel  principles,  will  give  the 
best  and  greatest  security  to  true  sovereignty,  and  will  lay 
in  the  hearts  of  men  the  strongest  obligations  to  truer  loy- 
alty." 

It  is  no  small  tribute  to  the  greatness  of  Dr.  Clarke's 
diplomatic  skill  that,  spite  of  the  determined  opposition  in 
Parliament,  and  the  no  less  determined  opposition  from 
Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  he,  on  the  eighth  day  of  July 
1663,  obtained  the  signature  and  seal  of  that  astute  Monarch, 
Charles  H.  It  is  noteworthy  that  freedom  of  worship  and  of 
conscience  was  made  the  basis  of  individual  rights.  And  con- 
sidering the  times,  it  is  amazing  that  such  a  provision  as  the 
following  could  emanate  from  the  English  throne :  "Our 
royal  will  and  pleasure  is,  that  no  person  within  the  said 
colony,  at  any  time  hereafter,  shall  be  anywise  molested, 
punished,  disquieted,  or  called  in  question,  for  any  differ- 
ences of  opinion  in  matters  of  religion."  Not  without  reason 
is  Dr.  Clarke  believed  by  many,  including  Thomas  Jefferson, 
to  have  been  the  author  of  this  epoch-making  document, 
which  became  the  constitutional  law  of  Rhode  Island  and 
Providence  Plantations  from  the  time  of  its  enactment  until 
the  American  revolution,  and  whose  provisions  Jefferson  in- 
corporated into  the  constitution  of  the  new  republic. 

His  arduous  task  accomplished  Dr.  Clarke  turned  his 
face  again  toward  Newport  and  his  family,  from  whom  he 
had  been  separated  twelve  years,  and  was  received  with 
marked  demonstrations  of  honor  and  gratitude.  At  a  public 
meeting  of  the  citizens,  November  24,  1663,  the  charter  was 
read,  the  stamp  and  seal  of  his  Majesty,  Charles  II,  were  duly 


18 

displayed,  and  thanks  were  voted  to  the  King,  to  the  Earl 
of  Clarendon,  who  had  been  the  friend  and  helper  of  the 
enterprise,  and  to  John  Clarke.  It  was  Newport's  day. 

Dr.  Clarke  had  now  given  Iwenty-five  years  to  public 
service  for  the  colony  which  he  founded.  He  had  fostered  re- 
ligion and  education,  having  at  the  very  beginning  of  the 
settlement  instituted  a  public  school,  the  first  in  America  if 
not  in  the  world,  and  a  Church,  which,  after  two  hundred 
and  seventy-eight  years  is  still  in  existence  and  at  the  pres- 
ent time  bears  his  name.  One  would  expect  to  find  him,  at 
the  age  of  fifty-five,  wishing  to  devote  his  remaining  years 
to  those  beloved  interests,  along  with  the  practice  of  his 
profession  as  a  physician.  But  the  colony  was  not  yet  ready 
to  dispense  with  his  services  and  counsel.  He  was  elected  to 
various  public  offices,  was  appointed  by  the  first  Assembly 
under  the  charter,  to  revise  and  codify  the  laws,  and  was  for 
three  successive  years  elected  Deputy  Governor,  two  of  those 
years  serving  in  that  office. 

But  time,  for  this  man  of  many  parts,  was  hastening, 
and  dear  to  him  as  life  was  the  Kingdom  of  God.  As  he  en- 
tered upon  what  was  to  be  the  last  decade  of  human  ex- 
istence, his  mind  turned  affectionately  toward  that  object, 
and  his  remaining  energies  and  matured  judgment  were 
placed  more  fully  at  its  service.  Five  years  before  his  death 
he  retired  from  all  pubhc  office;  but  that  did  not  exempt 
him,  only  sixteen  days  before  the  final  summons  from  the 
Ruler  of  All,  from  a  summons  from  the  General  Assembly : 
"the  Assembly  desiring  to  have  the  advice  and  concurrence 
of  the  most  judicious  inhabitants  in  the  troublous  times  and 
straits  into  which  the  colony  has  been  brought."  Seven  days 
later  he  was  put  in  charge  of  the  Island's  defenses. 

Dr.  Clarke  died  suddenly  April  20,  1676.  His  ashes  lie  in 
an  unkempt  cemetery,  the  land  of  which  was  once  owned  by 
himself,  on  West  Broadway,  in  Newport.  His  grave  is  a  per- 
petual reminder  of  the  ingratitude  of  republics.  He  be- 
queathed his  estate  to  a  self-perpetuating  body  of  trustees,  to 
be  forever  devoted  to  the  causes  of  religion  and  education, 
in  the  Church  and  city  which  he  founded,  the  poor  being 
the  special  objects  of  his  beneficence.  Thus  "he  being  dead 
yet  speaketh." 


19 

The  theological  beliefs  of  Dr.  Clarke  were  those  held 
throughout  their  history  by  the  body  of  Baptists,  and  his 
doctrinal  writings,  the  fruit  of  his  profound  studies  of 
later  years,  are  in  accord  with  Baptist  Confessions  of  Faith. 
Prom  the  same  fountain  he  also  drank  in  those  principles 
concerning  magistracy  and  religious  liberty,  so  dominant  in 
his  life,  and  which  became  the  warp  and  woof  of  the  charter 
of  1663.  It  was  the  guiding  hand  of  John  Clarke  that  steered 
the  ship  of  our  state  clear  of  the  rocks  that  split  both  Eng- 
land and  Massachusetts  asunder.  "His  is  the  glory  of  first 
showing  in  an  actual  government,  that  the  best  safeguard 
of  personal  rights  is  Christian  law,  that  church  and  state 
may  safely  be  separated,  and  that  absolute  license  of  thought 
and  utterance  not  issuing  in  crime  against  persons  and  es- 
tates, may  be  most  rightly  and  wisely  placed  far  above  tol- 
eration, on  the  secure  basis  of  personal  statute." 

History  bears  undivided  testimony  to  John  Clarke's 
claim  to  the  veneration  and  gratitude,  not  alone  of  Rhode 
Island,  but  of  all  mankind.  A  successor  of  his  in  the  pastor- 
ate, Rev.  John  Callender,  who  lived  among  men  who  knew 
Dr.  Clarke,  wrote:  "To  no  man  is  Rhode  Island  more  in- 
debted than  to  him.  No  character  in  New  England  is  of  purer 
fame  than  is  John  Clarke."  Isaac  Backus,  the  Baptist  his- 
torian of  the  eighteenth  century,  said  of  him:  "Mr.  Clarke 
left  as  spotless  a  character  as  any  man  I  know  of  that  ever 

acted  in  any  public  station  in  this  country I  have  not 

met  with  a  single  reflection  cast  upon  him  by  any  one."  Gov- 
ernor Arnold's  opinion  was:  "His  character  and  talents  ap- 
pear more  exalted  the  more  closely  they  are  examined." 
....  "One  of  the  ablest  men  of  the  seventeenth  century.  He 
was  a  ripe  scholar,  learned  in  the  practice  of  two  profes- 
sions, besides  having  large  experience  in  diplomatic  and 
political  life.  With  all  these  public  pursuits,  he  continued 
the  practice  of  his  original  profession  as  a  physician,  and 
also  retained  the  pastoral  charge  of  his  church.  His  life  was 
devoted  to  the  good  of  others.  He  was  a  patriot,  a  scholar, 
and  a  Christian.  The  purity  of  his  character  is  conspicuous 
in  many  trying  scenes,  and  his  blameless,  self-sacrificing  life 
disarmed  detraction,  and  left  him  without  an  enemy." 
Let  one  more  testimonial  from  history  suffice :  George  Ban- 


20 

crofl  says:  "Never  did  a  young  Commonwealth  possess  a 
more  faithful  friend.  The  modest  and  virtuous  Clarke,  the 
persevering  and  disinterested  envoy,  ....  whose  whole  life 
was  a  continual  exercise  of  benevolence.  Others  have  sought 
office  to  advance  their  fortunes.  He  parted  with  his  little 
means  for  the  public  good.  He  had  powerful  enemies  in  Mas- 
sachusetts, and  left  a  name  without  a  spot." 

The  last  act  of  this  scholar,  physician,  minister,  states- 
man, patriot,  was  worthy  of  his  pious  and  philanthropic 
spirit.  His  will,  signed  on  the  day  of  his  death,  "willingly 
and  readily"  commits  his  soul  into  the  hands  of  his  "merci- 
ful Redeemer;"  provides  that  his  body  be  "decently  interred, 
without  any  vain  ostentation;"  and  that  his  estate  be  admin- 
istered for  "the  bringing  up  of  children  unto  learning,"  civil 
and  religious,  and  for  the  relief  of  the  poor. 

Efforts  more  or  less  spasmodic  and  inadequate  have 
been  made  in  recent  years  to  honor  the  name  and  perpetuate 
the  memory  of  Dr.  Clarke,  but  as  has  been  before  pointed 
out,  the  duty  belongs  not  alone  to  Newport,  nor  to  Rhode 
Island,  but  to  our  whole  nation,  which  bears  the  honor 
through  him,  of  possessing  the  first  government  on  earth 
which  gave  to  all  equal  civil  and  religious  liberty. 


The  Early  History  of  the  Friends 
in  Newport 


A  Paper  read  before  the  Newport  Historical  Society 
August  14th,  1917 


By 
WILLIAM   I.  HULL 

Professor  of  History  in  Swarthmore  College 


The  Religious  Society  of  Friends 


I  fear  that  it  may  seem  very  much  Kke  "carrying  coal  to 
Newcastle"  for  me,  a  Baltimorean  by  birth  and  a  Pennsylva- 
nian  by  adoption,  to  present  to  an  audience  of  Newport  his- 
torical students  a  discourse  on  what  must  be  to  them  so 
familiar  a  theme  as  the  one  assigned  me.  But  perhaps  a  lack 
of  new  information  may  be  atoned  for  by  a  sympathetic  ap- 
preciation of  the  opportunity  atforded  to  the  Friends  in 
Rhode  Island  to  practise  without  interference  or  molestation 
the  faith  and  ideals  which  inspired  them.  It  may  well  be  that 
a  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania  Quaker,  familiar  with  the  re- 
ligious toleration  granted  in  their  respective  colonies  by  Lord 
Baltimore  and  William  Penn,  can  doubly  appreciate  the  re- 
ligious liberty  established  by  Roger  Williams,  William  Cod- 
dington,  and  their  compeers  in  Rhode  Island. 

It  may  be  permitted  me  to  plead,  also,  that  my  interest 
in  the  early  Friends  of  Newport  has  a  personal  as  well  as  a 
religious  origin.  For,  coming  to  the  neighboring  island  of 
Conanicut  a  score  of  years  ago  for  the  first  of  a  series  of 
summer  sojourns,  I  was  pleased  to  find  here  one  link  in  my 
own  family  chain  which  has  stretched  from  Massachusetts 
and  Maine,  through  Rhode  Island,  Connecticut  and  New 
York,  down  to  Maryland.  Captain  John  Hull  of  Newport  and 
Conanicut  was  the  third  link  in  that  chain  and  my  children 
are  the  tenth.  Across  the  gulf  of  two  centuries  and  a  half  he 
speaks  to  his  descendants;  and  as  one  of  the  early  Friends  of 
Newport,  and  a  type,  doubtless,  of  many,  he  may  engage  our 
attention  for  a  few  moments.  The  grandson  of  Rev.  Joseph 
Hull,  who  settled  a  colony  of  106  persons  in  Weymouth,  Mas- 
sachusetts, in  1636,  and  the  son  of  Tristram,  the  first  of  the 
family  to  embrace  Quakerism,  John  was  born  in  Barnstable 
and  adopted  his  father's  religious  faith  and  his  occupation  of 
captain  in  the  merchant  marine.  Many  of  the  Quaker  emi- 
grants to  Pennsylvania  were  brought  over  in  John  Hull's 


24 

ships,  during  the  great  exodus  in  the  Eighties  under  William 
Penn;  but  he  sailed  for  the  most  part  between  Newport  and 
London.  In  the  lattter  city  he  became  acquainted  with  and 
married  a  young  Quakeress,  Alice  Tiddeman,  by  name,  and 
three  years  afterwards,  in  1681,  came  with  his  wife  and  in- 
fant daughter  Mary  to  Newport.  Thirty  years  before  this, 
William  Coddington,  Benedict  Arnold  and  three  associates 
had  purchased  the  Island  of  Conanicut,  and  here  John  Hull 
bought  a  farm  of  370  acres  and  in  1690  built  a  house  upon 
it  and  settled  his  family  in  it.  His  fifth  child  and  second  son, 
John,  who  was  also  my  ancestor,  was  born  in  this  house  and 
is  said  by  your  local  historians  to  have  been  the  first  white 
child  born  uj^on  the  island. 

With  Indian  neighbors  and  other  Friends'  families  who 
settled  gradually  upon  the  island,  John  lived  in  the  intervals 
of  his  sea-faring  life,  and  to  his  Conanicut  home  he  retired 
in  old  age,  dying  there  an  octogenarian  about  the  year  1732. 
His  house  was  burned  by  the  British  during  the  Revolution, 
but  his  farm  is  still  called  the  "Old  Hull  Place;"  and  near- 
by is  a  thicket  called  "Hull's  Swamp,"  where  the  patriots 
concealed  themselves  and  their  valuables  during  the  Revolu- 
tion and  thus  incited  the  British  to  cut  down  the  fine  old 
trees  and  burn  the  bushes. 

John  Hull's  farm  evidently  made  quite  a  landsman  of 
him,  for  we  learn  from  the  records  that  he  served  James- 
town for  a  score  of  years  as  asssessor,  town-clerk,  head-war- 
den, town  councillor,  and  representative  for  a  half-dozen 
terms  in  the  colonial  legislature.  But  the  chroniclers  of  New- 
port have  been  chiefly  interested  in  his  career  as  a  sea-cap- 
tain and  especially  his  connection  with  Admiral  Sir  Charles 
Wager,  afterwards  first  Lord  of  the  British  Admiralty,  and 
appointed  Privy  Councillor  by  Queen  Anne.  Wager's  mater- 
nal grandfather  was  Admiral  William  Goodson,  and  his 
father  was  Admiral  Charles  Wager,  while  he  was  closely  re- 
lated to  Admiral  Sir  Thomas  Tiddeman.*  Of  his  father,  the 
diarist  Pepys  records:  "There  was  never  any  man  that  be- 
haved himself  in  the  Straits  [of  Gibralter]  like  poor  Charles 
Wager,  whom  the  very  Moors  do  mention  with  tears  somc- 


*The  names  Wager  and  Tiddeman  have  been  borne  by  sundry  members 
of  the  Hull  family. 


25 

times."  Of  Wager  himself,  the  historian  Walpole  says :  "Old 
Charles  Wager  is  dead  at  last  and  has  left  the  fairest  char- 
acter." The  younger  Charles  died  in  1743,  aged  seventy-nine, 
and  was  buried  in  Westminster  Abbey. 

"He  lies  where  the   minister's  groined 
arches  curve  down 
To  the  tomb-crowded  transept  of 
England's  renown." 

The  remains  of  his  preceptor  lie  in  an  unmarked  grave, 
— is  it  in  the  Coddington  Grave-yard  in  Newport,  or  in  some 
over-grown  and  forgotten  God's  acre  on  Conanicut?  The 
story  of  his  life  is  recorded  in  England's  naval  history  and 
the  lovers  of  lighter  literature  may  find  some  of  its  incidents, 
in  considerably  distorted  form,  in  Colonel  Joseph  C.  Hart's 
novel,  "Miriam  Cof!in."*  Here  it  is  mentioned  simply  for  the 
sake  of  associating  him  with  the  early  Friends  of  Newport, 
and  it  may  not  be  inappropriate  to  rehearse  its  best  known 
incident  which  illustrates  both  his  own  character  and  that  of 
John  Hull,  from  whom  his  seamanship  was  learned.  His 
father  died  when  Charles  was  an  infant,  and  his  mother 
married  a  London  merchant  and  Friend,  Alexander  Parker. 
The  call  of  the  sea  was  loud  in  the  London  boy's  heart,  and 
he  was  apprenticed  in  youth  to  Captain  John  Hull,  his  par- 
ents' friend.  John,  who  was  about  a  dozen  years  his  senior, 
is  said  to  have  remarked  to  him  when  he  appeared  at  his 
ship :  "Step  on  board,  Charles :  perhaps  thou  may  get  to  be 
a  captain  one  of  these  days."  And  the  youth,  with  his  father's 
example  in  mind,  replied:  "I  shall  be  disappointed  if  I  do 
not  get  to  be  an  admiral."  An  English  merchant  ship  was 
often  attacked  by  French  and  Spanish  privateersmen  in 
those  days  of  Louis  XIV's  aggressive  warfare,  and  John 
Hull's  Quaker  ship  was  not  immune  from  such  attacks.  On 
one  of  these  occasions,  the  story  goes,  a  French  armed 
schooner  bore  down  upon  him  in  the  British  Channel,  and 
at  Wager's  urgent  request  John  retired  to  the  cabin  and 
Wager  was  left  in  charge  of  the  ship  to  deal  with  the  priva- 
teersman.  It  appears,  however,  that  Wager's  manoeuvcrs  did 


*The  first  edition  of  this  story  was  published  in  San  Francisco,  m  1834  ; 
the  2nd.  edition,  in  the  same  city,  in  1872. 


26 

not  commend  themselves  to  Captain  Hull,  who  called  out  to 
him  from  the  companion-way:  "Charles,  if  thou  intend  to 
run  over  that  schooner,  thou  must  put  the  helm  a  little  more 
to  the  starboard."  Charles  followed  the  advice  and  sank  the 
schooner  with  all  on  board.  Captain  Hull,  we  are  glad  to  be 
informed,  after  this  lapse  from  his  Quaker  principles,  got  his 
ship  about  as  soon  as  possible  to  rescue  the  privateersman's 
crew:  but  a  stiff  breeze  and  heavy  sea  prevented  the  finding 
or  rescue  of  a  single  victim.*  When  the  ship  arrived  in  Lon- 
don and  the  story  was  told,  the  Admiralty  warmly  com- 
mended Hull  and  offered  him  a  captaincy  in  the  royal  navy. 
In  moments  free  from  excitement  and  professional  pride, 
however,  John  was  too  much  of  a  Quaker  to  accept  such  an 
offer;  but  he  yielded  to  his  apprentice's  desire  and  recom- 
mended him  to  the  Admiralty,  from  whom  came  an  ap- 
pointment as  midshipman.  Wager  rose  to  the  admiral's  rank 
in  the  British  navy,  and  never  became  a  Friend;  but  he  seems 
to  have  cherished  always  an  admiration  and  gratitude  for 
his  Quaker  instructor,  "my  honored  master,"  as  he  called 
him,  sending  him  yearly  a  pipe  of  wine,  and  visiting  him 
often  in  Newport  and  Conamcut.  t 

Long  before  John  Hull  settled  in  Newport,  however,  the 
Friends  had  made  it  their  home.  In  fact,  before  the  first 
Quakers  from  England  found  their  way  thither,  it  was  the 
home  of  a  group  of  people  who  appear  to  have  been  Quakers 
in  all  but  name.  The  followers  of  Anne  Hutchinson  and  of 
Samuel  Gorton,  who  found  a  refuge  in  Rhode  Island  from 
their  Massachusetts  persecutors,  had  some  striking  points 
of  resemblance  with  their  later  contemporaries,  the  Quak- 
ers, and  some  of  them  joined  the  Society  of  Friends  when  it 
established  its  meetings  among  them  a  score  of  years  later. 


*Connected  with  this,  or  another  similar  occasion,  there  is  another  story 
(which  was  told  me  by  your  late  distinguished  townsman,  Honorable  Wm. 
P.  Sheffield,  but  which  it  may  be  permitted  a  descendant  to  hope  is  apocry- 
phal), that  when  John  Hull,  looking  out  of  a  porthole  saw  a  Frenchman  lay 
hold  of  a  rope  with  the  intent  of  climbing  on  board,  he  quietly  cut  the  rope, 
saying  to  him  :  "Friend,  if  thee  wants  that  rope,  thee  may  have  it." 

tOne  branch  of  the  family  of  Hull  still  remains  on  Conanicut  Island,  and 
for  many  years  after  John's  death  his  descendants  retained  membership  in 
the  Society  of  Friends  and  were  prominent  in  the  religious  and  political  life 
of  the  island  and  of  Newport. 


^7 

But  there  was  another  group  of  the  founders  of  Rhode  Island 
who  still  more  closely  resembled  the  Friends  in  doctrine  and 
practice,  and  who  also  later  joined  the  society.  These  were 
among  the  founders  of  Portsmouth  and  Newport,  with  Wil- 
liam Coddington  and  Nicholas  Easton  at  their  head.  They 
were  "antinomians,"  like  the  Hutchinsonians  and  Gortoni- 
ans,  and  like  them  were  driveii  from  Massachusetts  to  their 
refuge  on  Aquidneck,  or  Rhode  Island  proper.  Here,  relig- 
ious differences  caused  them  to  separate  from  their  fellow- 
exiles  in  Portsmouth,  in  1638,  and  the  next  year  to  leave 
Portsmouth  and  found  Newport.  Their  leader  in  Massachu- 
setts, Portsmouth  and  Newport  was  William  Coddington, 
who  was  elected  the  first  "judge"  in  Portsmouth  and  New- 
port as  well.  When  the  two  settlements  united,  in  1640, 
Coddington  was  elected  the  new  colony's  first  governor,  and 
under  his  leadership  the  people  in  popular  assembly  de- 
clared, in  May,  1641,  for  the  two  great  American  and  Quaker 
principles  of  self  government  and  religious  liberty.  "It  is 
ordered,"  runs  one  of  the  famous  resolutions,  "that  none  bee 
accounted  a  delinquent  for  doctrine,"* 

Where  there  is  liberty,  there  is  always  diversity,  and  in 
Newport  there  developed  as  early  as  1641  two  main  groups 
of  religious  thinkers,  one,  under  the  leadership  of  John 
Clarke,  which  united  with  the  Baptists,  and  one,  under  Cod- 
dington's  leadership,  which  formed  a  kind  of  Quaker  meet- 
ing. Thus,  nearly  a  score  of  years  before  the  real  Quakers 
came  to  Newport,  and  a  half-dozen  years  before  the  Founder 
of  Quakerism  began  his  public  mission  in  England,  Newport 
saw  the  rise  of  what  might  be  called  a  Pre-Foxian,  Quaker 
people.  They  looked  askance  upon  a  separate,  exclusive 
clergy;  laid  great  stress  on  spirituality  in  ministry  and  wor- 
ship; sought  for  this  spirituality  in  the  Divinity  that  doth 
dwell  within  man  himself;  and  were  adverse  to  relying  upon 
"carnal"  as  opposed  to  "spiritual  weapons."  As  illustrative 
of  this  last  principle,  they  cooperated  with  Roger  Williams 
the  Baptist  and  set  an  example  for  William  Penn  the  Quaker 


*The  author  desires  to  acknowledge  here  his  indebtedness  for  many 
details  in  this  paper  to  Professor  Rufus  M.  Jones's  very  readable  book,  "  The 
Quakers  in  the  American  Colonies,  "N.  Y.,  1911,  and  also  to  your  Society's 
admirable  collection  of  books  and  manuscripts. 


28 

in  a  just  and  peaceful  dealing  with  their  Indian  neighbors, 
and  at  least  one  of  their  number,  Nicholas  Easton,  was  fined 
five  shillings  in  1639  for  refusing  to  carry  weapons  to  meet- 
ing.* 

New  England,  like  Old  England,  was  seething  during 
these  years  with  many  varieties  of  extreme  Puritans,  and 
Rhode  Island  had  more  than  its  share,  thanks  to  its  religious 
tolerance,  of  these  varied  seekers  after  God.  Massachusetts 
did  its  best  to  curb  or  expel  them,  and  regarded  Rhode  Island 
as  a  horrible  example  of  the  folly  of  toleration.  Cotton 
Mather  called  it  "the  Gerizzim  of  New  England"  and  wrote: 
"I  believe  there  never  was  held  such  a  variety  of  religions 
together  on  as  small  a  spot  of  ground  as  have  been  in  that 
colony."  If  a  man  should  lose  his  religion,  he  suggests,  he 
might  find  it  there  "at  the  general  muster  of  the  opinionists." 

It  is  small  wonder,  then,  that  the  Quakers  should  have 
found  congenial  soil,  with  seed  already  sown,  in  Newport, 
and  that  the  town  should  have  become  both  a  nursery  of 
Quakerism  and  a  place  whence  it  was  transplanted  to  other 
parts  of  New  England. 

The  chief  reasons  why  the  Quakers  were  persecuted  by 
the  Puritans  of  Boston  were  precisely  the  reasons  why  they 
found  toleration  and  prosperity  in  Newport.  These  were, 
first,  the  Puritans'  fear  of  the  Dutch,  the  French,  and  the 
Indians,  and  it  is  notorious  that  fear  hath  no  ears;  but  the 
Rhode  Islanders  placed  all  their  dealings  with  these  possible 
foes  on  a  basis  of  justice  and  friendship,  hence  feared  them 
not,  and  were  not  obliged  to  seek  strength  abroad  through 
suppression  and  enforced  uniformity  at  home.  Again,  the 
Puritan  clergy  were  chiefly  responsible  for  persecution  in 
New  England,  while  the  democratic  laity  were  opposed  to  it, 
— as  was  shown  especially  in  the  case  of  the  Gortonites  and 
the  Quakers;  but  in  Rhode  Island  there  was  no  established 
clergy  to  act  as  guardians  over  the  state  or  to  inflame  the 
persecution  of  dissenters.  Again,  the  Puritans  feared  and  de- 
tested the  doctrine  of  private  inspiration  and  denounced  its 
exponents,  like  Anne  Hutchinson  and  Samuel  Gorton,  as 
"proud  and  pestilent  seducers;"  but  in  Rhode  Island  this 
doctrine  was  like  a  native  element  and  seemed  to  its  popu- 


*Rhode  Island  Colonial  Records,  I.  95. 


29 

lation  of  "Seekers"  as  natural  as  the  sunshine.  Finally,  the 
Puritan  union  of  church  and  state,  the  separation  of  the 
clergy  from  the  laity,  the  primacy  of  the  clergy  in  secular 
affairs,  the  collection  of  tithes,  were  all  threatened  by  the 
Quakers'  denial  of  their  right  to  exist:  but  Rhode  Island  had 
acted  from  the  beginning  on  the  American  principle  of  en- 
tire separation  between  church  and  state,  and  hence  charged 
not  this  against  the  Quakers  as  a  heresy  and  a  mence  to  the 
public  weal  or  safety. 

While  it  is  easy  to  explain  the  reasons  for  religious  per- 
secution elsewhere  in  New  England  and  its  absence  in  Rhode 
Island,  the  fact  remains  as  the  corner-stone  of  Rhode  Island's 
history,  and  the  student  of  its  history  in  full  appreciation  of 
this  fact  might  almost  wish  that  the  emblem  upon  its  shield 
should  be  not  even  Hope  or  Faith,  but  Charity,  which  is 
greatest  of  the  things  that  endure.  Newport  not  only  ac- 
corded toleration  to  the  Quakers,  but,  as  has  been  stated,  it 
paved  the  way  for  them  by  developing  a  home-made  Quak- 
erism of  its  own.  The  leader  of  this  group  of  Quaker  aborig- 
ines was  the  pioneer  and  founder  of  the  settlement  as  well, 
William  Coddington.  Our  friends  the  Baptists  lay  just  claim 
to  Roger  Williams,  the  founder  of  Providence;  but  as  "there 
is  glory  enough  to  go  round"  they  may  well  yield  first  place 
in  Rhode  Island  proper  to  William  Coddington.  John  Clarke, 
it  is  true,  was  in  the  front  rank  of  Rhode  Island's  founders, 
and  he  appears  to  have  founded  the  first  Baptist  church  in 
America.  It  would  be  unseemly  to  repeat,  in  behalf  of  the 
two  leaders  and  the  two  rival  communities  in  the  early 
settlement,  the  slogan  of  "Coding's  your  friend,  not  Short!"; 
but  in  the  interest  of  historic  truth  it  may  be  recalled  that 
Coddington  was  one  of  the  founders  of  Massachusetts;  that 
he  was  active  in  the  affairs  of  that  colony  even  before  Bos- 
ton was  named;  that  he  built  Boston's  first  house,  which  be- 
came the  Governor's  house  for  many  years, — including  those 
during  which  the  governors  persecuted  Coddington's  fel- 
low-Quakers; that  he  secured  in  1637  the  deed  from  Canoni- 
cus  and  Miantonomo,  the  two  chief  sachems  of  the  Narra- 
gansetts,  which  conveyed  the  Island  of  Aquidneck,  or  Rhode 
Island,  to  "William  Coddington  and  his  friends;"  that  he 
held  the  island  in  his  own  name  for  fifteen  years  and  then 


30 

transferred  all  rights  which  he  might  claim  under  the  deed' 
to  the  company  of  which  he  was  the  leader;  that  in  1638, 
when  Portsmouth  was  settled  and  a  compact  for  civil  gov- 
ernment was  signed  by  the  settlers,  Coddington's  name  was 
first  among  the  signatures  and  Clarke's  came  second; 
that  in  1639,  when  it  was  agreed  to  settle  Newport,  Codding- 
ton  was  the  first  of  the  nine  pioneers  who  signed  the  agree- 
ment; that  he  was  the  first  "judge"  in  Portsmouth  and  the 
first  in  Newport,  the  first  governor  of  the  two  settlements 
united  (1640-1647),  the  President  of  the  united  colony  of 
Rhode  Island  and  Providence  in  1648,  and  conmiissioned 
proprietor  of  the  Narragansett  Islands  and  governor  for  life 
of  both  Rhode  Island  and  Connecticut  in  1651.  This  last 
position  was  resented  by  his  fellow-Rhode  Islanders  and  he 
was  alienated  from  them  for  a  time;*  but  he  manfully  with- 
drew his  claims  within  a  year  and  was  at  once  elected  by 
Newport  to  the  General  Court.  When  in  1663  a  charter  was 
granted  to  the  united  colony  of  Providence  and  Rhode 
Island,  its  four  leading  citizens,  Arnold,  Rrenton,  Codding- 
ton,  and  Easton,  were  mentioned  in  alphabetical  order,  and 
the  other  incorporators  regardless  of  order. 

At  the  age  of  seventy-four,  Coddington  was  elected  gov- 
ernor for  two  terms  (1674-6)  and  in  that  ofiice  presided  over 
Rhode  Island's  destiny  during  King  Philip's  terrible  war. 
While  governor  of  Aquidneck  in  1640,  he  had  made  a 
treaty  of  friendship  with  the  Narragansett  Indians,  and 
thus  set  an  example  for  his  great  Quaker  successor  in 
Pennsylvania  forty-two  years  later.  But  unlike  Penn,  he 
lived  to  see  his  colony  ravaged  by  Indian  foes.  He  and  his 
fellow-Quakers  did  their  best  to  prevent  the  war,  and  then 
to  shield  the  mainland  of  Rhode  Island  from  its  horrors. 
Pessicus,  the  chief  of  the  Narragansetts,  was  very  kindly 
disposed  towards  the  colony  and  its  Quaker  rulers,  but  told 
them  that  he  could  restrain  his  chieftains  on  the  island 
alone,  but  not  on  the  mainland.  Thus,  while  the  mainland 
was  devastated,  the  island  became,  in  the  words  of  the  old 
chronicler,  Drake,  "the  common  Zoar,  or  place  of  refuge  for 

*The  trouble  came  to  a  head  in  1648,  and  seems  to  have  been  due  in  the 
first  place  to  Coddington's  determination  that  Rhode  Island  should  not 
enter  the  New  England  Confederation. 


31 

the  distressed."  As  Holland  has  been  to  the  Belgian  refugees 
of  our  day,  so  Newport  and  her  sister  towns  on  the  island 
became  the  hosts  and  guardians  of  the  many  fugitives  who 
fled  from  the  Indian  tomahawk  and  fire-brand.  The  assem- 
bly appointed  a  committee  of  six,  including  three  Quakers 
(Walter  Clarke,  Joshua  Coggeshall  and  Caleb  Carr),  to  urge 
the  mainland  inhabitants  to  come  to  the  island,  to  supply 
each  fugitive  family  with  land,  or  with  a  cow  to  be  pastured 
on  the  commons,  and  to  distribute  £800  for  their  support. 

At  this  time,  too,  the  Quakers  of  Newport  had  a  golden 
opportunity  of  heaping  coals  of  fire  upon  the  heads  of  their 
Massachusetts  persecutors.  In  the  winter  of  1675-76,  after  the 
battle  atSouthKingstown,the  wounded  New  England  soldiers 
were  brought  to  Newport  by  the  Quakers  and  cared  for  in 
their  homes.  The  Massachusetts  and  Confederation  authori- 
ties expressed  their  thanks  for  this  kindness;  but  when  they 
made  the  further  request  that  Rhode  Island  should  send  100 
or  200  soldiers  to  the  trenches,  as  well  as  provide  Red  Cross 
aid,  Governor  Coddington  replied  with  a  Quaker  refusal  to 
fight,  and  reminded  the  Massachusetts  petitioners  that  at  that 
very  time  the  Massachusetts  clergy  were  lamenting,  as  one  of 
the  sins  which  had  caused  the  war,  "the  recent  neglect  to 
suppress  the  Quakers  and  their  meetings,"  and  the  Massa- 
chusetts authorities  were  enforcing  a  fine  of  £5  and  impris- 
onment at  hard  labor  on  bread  and  water  for  any  person 
who  should  attend  a  Quaker  meeting! 

At  the  time  of  the  Revolution,  also,  Massachusetts  was 
feign  to  accept  the  charity  of  the  Rhode  Island  Quakers.  A 
committee  of  them  took  £1968  to  distribute  among  the  vic- 
tims of  the  siege  of  Boston,  and  in  company  with  the  select- 
men they  went  from  house  to  house  distributing  food,  cloth- 
ing and  fuel.  These  activities  were  pursued  in  sixteen  Massa- 
chusetts towns,  through  many  of  which  the  Quakers  had 
been  whipped  at  the  cart-tail  a  century  before.  Salem,  and 
probably  other  towns,  made  an  amende  honorable  by  pass- 
ing votes  of  thanks  to  the  Quaker  philanthropists  in  1775  and 
1776. 

After  King  Philip's  war,  Massachusetts  denounced  the 
Quaker  war-policy  of  Rhode  Island  as  "scarcely  showing 
English  spirit;"  and  within  the  colony  itself  there  was  a 


32 

strong  militant  opposition,  which  succeeded  in  replacing  the 
Quaker  governor,  Walter  Clarke,  by  the  chief  Quaker  rival 
and  twelve-times  governor,  Benedict  Arnold.  But  Arnold 
died  before  his  term  was  ended,  and  Coddington  was  again 
elected  to  the  governor's  chair.  By  this  time,  however,  he 
was  in  his  seventy-eighth  year  and  worn  out  by  the  many 
heavy  labors  and  strange  vicissitudes  of  his  life,  and  he  too 
died  before  his  term  of  office  expired. 

The  verdict  of  two  of  Bhode  Island's  historians  upon 
this  pioneer  Rhode  Islander  and  pioneer  Quaker  in  New- 
port gives  some  idea  of  his  strength  and  his  weakness.  Cal- 
lender  says  of  him :  "A  good  man,  full  of  days,  he  died  pro- 
moting the  welfare  and  the  prosperity  of  the  little  common- 
wealth which  he  had  in  a  manner  founded."  And  Judge 
Durfee  hands  down  as  his  opinion  that  "he  had  in  him  a 
little  too  much  of  the  future  for  Massachusetts  and  a  little 
too  much  of  the  past  for  Rhode  Island," — which  opinion  em- 
phasizes, perhaps,  the  defects  of  Massachusetts  and  the  mer- 
its of  Rhode  Island,  rather  than  those  of  Coddington.  A 
student  of  physiognomy  as  well  as  of  history  may  be  able 
to  strike  the  balance  between  these  and  other  conflicting 
opinions  of  him  by  a  study*  of  his  portrait  which  hangs  in 
Newport's  city  hall.* 

The  citizens  of  Newport  erected  a  monument  in  his 
memory  on  the  two  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  town's 
settlement,  and  inscribed  upon  it  this  tribute : 

That  illustrious  man,  who  first  purchased  this  Island  from 
the  Narragansett  Sachems  Conanicus  and  Miantonomo  for,  and 
on  account  of  himself  and  Seventeen  others  his  associates  in  the 
purchase  and  Settlement. 

He  presided  many  years  as  chief  Magistrate  of  the  Island 
and  Colony  of  Rhode  Island  and  Died  much  respected  and  lamented 
on  the  1st.  day  of  November,  1678  Aged  77  years. 

He  was  buried,  the  old  records  say,  on  the  "6  day  of  ye 
9  mo.  1678;"  and  around  him  in  death  as  in  life,  in  the  Cod- 
dington Burial-ground  which  is  located   appropriately   on 


*A  copy  of  this  portrait  is  in  the  Redwood  Library  ;  but  there  are  good 
reasons  for  believing  that  this  portrait  is  not  authentic.  Cf  the  Bulletin  of 
the  Newport  Historical  Society,  No.  9  (October,  1913):  "On  the  So-called 
Portrait  of  Governor 'William  Coddington  in  the  City  Hall  at  Newport," 
by  Hamilton  B.  Tompkins. 


33 

Farewell  St.,  Ihcrc  lie  the  remains  of  a  number  of  his  as- 
sociates and  their  descendants.  His  own  son,  William  Cod- 
dington,  Jr.,  who  was  governor  from  1683  to  1685,  and  died 
at  the  age  of  thiriy-seven;  sundry  members  of  the  Tluuslon, 
Martin,  James  and  Wanton  families;  and  doubtless  many 
another  "rude  forefather  of  the  hamlet  sleeps,  Each  in  his 
narrow  cell  forever  laid,"  but  left  in  Quaker  oblivion  and 
not  marked  by  visible  sign. 

One  of  the  village  Hampdens  whose  graves  are  marked 
is  Nicholas  Easton,  who  died  August  15,  1675,  at  the  age  of 
eighty-three.  He  was  a  pioneer  in  Newbury,  Massachusetts, 
and  built  the  first  Englishman's  house  in  Hampton.  Coming 
to  Rhode  Island  for  religion's  sake,  he  was  one  of  the  nine- 
teen signers  of  the  Portsmouth  "contract,"  and  the  second 
signer  of  the  Newport  "Agreement."  With  his  two  sons,  Peter 
and  John,  he  rowed  down  from  Pocasset  (Portsmouth)  to  an 
island  in  Newport's  harbor,  which  he  called  Coaster's  Har- 
bor, now  the  site  of  the  Naval  War  College  and  Training 
School,  and  which  may  be  regarded  as  being,  historically, 
to  Newport  what  Cape  Cod  is  to  Plymouth.  The  Eastons 
built  the  first  house  and  the  first  wdnd-miil  in  Newport,  on 
Marlborough  St.;  but  the  house  was  destroyed  by  fire  in 
1641,  and  a  modern  jail  stands  on  or  near  the  site  of  the 
mill. 

Easton  became  a  Friend,  with  Coddington  and  most  of 
his  other  associates,  about  1657,  but  remained  one  of  the 
pillars  of  the  state  as  well  as  of  the  Quaker  church.  He  was 
a  member  of  the  governor's  council,  a  member  and  modera- 
tor of  the  assembly,  president  of  the  first  united  colony,  and 
deputy-governor  and  governor  of  the  second.  When  George 
P'ox  spent  two  months  in  Rhode  Island  in  1672,  Easton  was 
governor  of  the  colony,  but  accompanied  Fox  almost  con- 
stantly on  his  missionary  tour.  His  sons,  Peter  and  John, 
emulated  their  father's  civic  activities,  the  former  serving 
as  member  of  the  assembly  and  of  the  governor's  council, 
attorney-general  and  treasurer;  the  latter  as  attorney-gen- 
eral for  fourteen  years,  member  of  the  assembly  and  coun- 
cil, deputy-governor,  and  governor  from  1690-95.  In  this  last 
position,  he  successfully  resisted  Sir  William  Phipps's  claim 
to  command  the  Rhode  Island  militia. 


34 

Another  leading  Newport  Quaker  was  Walter  Clarke, 
who  served  as  member  of  the  assembly  and  council,  twenty- 
three  terms  as  deputy-governor  (fifteen  of  them  successive- 
ly: from  1700-1714),  and  four  terms  as  governor.  In  this  last 
position,  he  successfully  withstood  Governor  Andros's  de- 
mand for  Rhode  Island's  precious  charter,  although  he  was 
at  the  time  a  member  of  Andros's  Council  for  New  England. 
Not  a  Charter  Oak,  as  in  Hartford,  but  a  Quaker  house  and 
Quaker  diplomacy  concealed  and  secured  Rhode  Island's 
charter.  When  ordered  by  Andros  to  send  the  charter.  Gov- 
ernor Clarke  declined  to  do  so  "because  of  the  tediousness 
of  the  bad  weather;"  and  when  Andros  came  in  person  to 
fetch  the  charter,  Nov.  7,  1687,  Clarke  sent  it  from  his  own 
house  to  his  brother's,  and  then  for  Andros's  benefit,  caused 
a  great  search  to  be  made  for  it  through  his  own  house! 
Following  this  defense  of  Rhode  Island's  fundamental  con- 
stitution on  parchinent,  Governor  Clarke  refused  to  permit 
the  establishment  or  recognition  of  an  English  court  of  admi- 
ralty in  the  colony.  Thus  he  asserted,  three-quarters  of  a 
century  before  1776,  the  American  right  of  self-government, 
and  based  that  right  upon  the  bed-rock  of  charter  privileges. 

Among  other  early  Quaker  governors  were  Caleb  Carr, 
who  was  treasurer  as  well,  and  Henry  Bull,  a  follower  of 
Anne  Hutchinson,  a  founder  of  Portsmouth  and  Newport, 
and  builder  of  what  was  for  many  years  Rhode  Island's  old- 
est extant  house,  where  his  wife  Ann,  the  widow  of  Nicholas 
Easton,  presided,  and  where  many  Quaker  meetings  were 
held.* 

Time  does  not  suffice  to  tell  of  such  early  colonial  Quak- 
ers of  Newport  as  John  and  Joshua  Coggeshall,  George  Law- 
ton,  Walter  Newberry,  Edward  Thurston,  Daniel  and  John 
Gould  (after  whom  one  of  Narragansett's  familiar  islands 
is  named) ;  or  of  the  later,  pre-Revolutionary  Quakers,  whose 
annals  are  made  picturesque  or  impressive  by  the  beauty  of 
Polly  Lawton,**  the  preaching  of  Mary  Callender,  the  varied 


*This  house  was  destroyed  by  fire  in  1912. 

**Her  portrait  is  in  the  Redwood  Library,  and  a  glowing  description  of 
her  beauty  in  the  Comte  de  Segur's  "Memoirs.  "  Her  home  is  now  a  fruit- 
store,  on  the  corner  of  Spring  and  Touro  Streets. 


35 

activities  of  the  Wanton  and  Robinson  families,  the  phihm- 
thropy  of  Abraham  Redwood,  and  tlie  statesmanship  of 
Stephen  Hopkins. 

Rut  a  sliort  time  at  least  should  be  devoted  to  the  com- 
ing of  the  English  Quakers  to  Newport,  their  union  with  the 
pre-Quakers  of  the  town,  and  "the  things  that  arc  more  ex- 
cellent" for  which  the  Newport  Quakers  stand  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  city,  the  state  and  the  nation. 

The  first  Quakers  to  set  foot  on  American  soil  were  Mary 
Fisher  and  Ann  Austin,  who  had  some  very  trying  experi- 
ences ii^  Roston  in  the  summer  of  1656.  They  were  de- 
spatched straight  back  to  Rarbadoes,  after  five  weeks'  im- 
prisonment and  an  examination  for  witchcraft,  and  had  no 
chance  to  get  to  Rhode  Island;  but  the  first  Quaker  convert 
in  New  England,  Nicholas  Upsall  of  Roston,  came  to  Rhode 
Island,  after  he  had  been  fined  and  banished  for  supplying 
the  two  Quakeresses  with  food  while  in  prison,  for  offering 
to  buy  the  one  hundred  "heretical  books"  which  they  brought 
with  them,  and  which  the  Roston  hangman  burned  in  the 
market-place,  and  for  making  a  public  protest  against  the 
first  penal  law  which  Massachusetts  launched  against  the 
Quaker.  The  eight  Quakers  who  arrived  in  Roston  two  days 
after  Mary  Fisher  and  Anna  Austin  were  expelled  were  also 
immediately  placed  in  close  confinement  for  eleven  weeks 
and  then  sent  back  to  England:  but  New^  England  heard 
much  of  them,  Samuel  Gorton  of  Warwick  invited  them  to 
settle  in  that  town,  and  some  of  them  returned  as  speedily 
as  possible  the  next  year  in  the  Quaker  Mayflower,  "The 
Woodhouse." 

This  ship,  so  famous  in  Quaker  annals,  was  regarded 
by  its  Quaker  captain  and  passengers  as  a  second  Noah's  Ark 
which  God  led,  in  Robert  Fowler's,  the  courageous  and  pious 
skipper's,  quaint  w^ords,  "as  a  man  leads  a  horse  by  the 
head;"  and  when,  after  leaving  five  missionaries  in  New^ 
Amsterdam,  the  remaining  eleven  arrived,  on  the  3rd.  of 
August,  1657,  in  Newport,  they  were  convinced  that  God 
had  led  them  to  a  second  Ararat,  whence  they  should  re- 
plenish the  New  World,  submerged  by  barbarism  of  various 
kinds,  wdth  a  Quaker  civilization.  In  Newport,  at  least,  they 
found  congenial  soil  among  the  community  of  Coddington 


36 

and  Easton;  and  not  only  did  this  community  convert  itself 
into  the  first  Quaker  meeting  of  Newport,  but  the  town  be- 
came a  base  of  operations  for  both  native  and  English 
Quakers  in  their  invasion  of  the  rest  of  New  England. 

The  familiar  procedure  was  for  a  company  of  English 
Friends  to  come  to  Newport,  then  to  go  with  Newport 
Friends  to  Massachusetts,  where  they  protested  against  the 
penal  laws,  and  were  imprisoned  and  whipped,  and  then  to 
return  to  Rhode  Island,  "the  habitation  of  the  hunted- 
Christ,"  as  they  call  it,  "where  we  ever  found  a  place  of  rest 
when  weary  we  have  been." 

One  such  party,  including  two  women,  Sarah  Gibbons 
and  Dorothy  Waugh,  travelled  on  foot  from  Newport  all  the 
way  to  Salem,  through  the  wilderness  and  through  what 
appears  from  their  description  to  have  been  a  March  bliz- 
zard; after  a  fortnight  of  missionary  endeavor,  they  were 
whipped  in  Boston  and  sent  back  to  Newport.  Among  the 
Salem  converts  on  this  journey,  were  Lawrence  and  Cassan- 
dra Southwick*,  who  fled  to  Shelter  Island,  and  Joshua 
Butfum,  who  came  to  Rhode  Island. 

Another  English  Quakeress  who  made  Newport  a  base  of 
operations  was  Elizabeth  Hooton,  the  first  woman  convinced 
by  George  Fox,  and  the  first  woman  Friend  to  appear  in  the 
ministry.  She  suffered  bitter  persecution  in  England; 
sailed  to  Virginia  and  thence  to  Newport;  gave  her  "testi- 
mony" in  Boston;  was  imprisoned  and  then  banished  to 
Rhode  Island;  returned  to  Boston;  was  whipped  through 
Cambridge,  Watertown  and  Dedham;  left  in  the  woods 
during  a  cold  night,  she  arrived  torn  and  bleeding  in 
Newport;  'returning  to  Cambridge,  she  was  again  whipped 
through  three  towns,  to  Rhode  Island;  to  Boston  once 
more,  she  was  whipped  at  the  cart  tail  through  Boston, 
Roxbury,  Dedham  and  Medfield,  and  left  in  the  woods; 
travelling  seventy  miles  on  foot  back  to  Newport,  she  was 
again  refreshed,  and  again  went  to  Boston ! 

Such  were  the  stories  that  were  told  at  Rhode  Island 
firesides  and  that  turned  many  families  to  join  the  perse- 


*Cf.  Whittier's  "Cassandra  Southwick,  1658." 


37 

cuted  *;  and  in  such  incidents  the  Newport  Quakers  were 
often  participators.  The  most  familiar  and  most  tragic  of 
them  all  was  associated  with  Mary  Dyer,  Daniel  Gould,  and 
other  Friends  of  Newport,  who  went  to  Boston  in  Septem- 
ber, 1659,  with  William  Robinson  and  Marmaduke  Stephen- 
son of  England,  Hope  Clifton,  Mary  and  Patience  Scott  of 
Providence  (the  latter  an  eleven  years'  old  niece  of  Ann 
Hutchinson)  and  other  Rhode  Island  Friends,  "being  moved 
of  the  Lord,"  as  they  told  the  Massachusetts  authorities,  "to 
look  your  bloody  laws  in  the  face  and  to  accompany  those 
who  should  suffer  by  them."  Mary  Dyer,  who  went  repeat- 
edly to  protest  against  the  unrighteous  laws  of  Massachusetts, 
was  the  wife  of  William  Dyer,  (or  Dyre)  of  Newport,  who 
spent  his  life  in  upholding  Rhode  Island's  righteous  laws, 
having  been  the  first  clerk  of  the  settlement  in  Portsmouth, 
the  first  secretary  of  united  Portsmouth  and  Newport,  the 
first  recorder  of  Providence  Plantations,  and  attorney-gen- 
eral of  the  colony.  After  imprisonments  and  whippings,  sen- 
tence of  death,  reprieve  on  the  gallows,  and  banishment  on 
pain  of  death  in  case  of  return,  Mary  Dyer  was  at  last  hung 
on  Boston  Common.  Her  death  was  doubtless  more  impres- 
sive to  the  American  colonists  than  was  that  of  her  three 
fellow  martyrs,  men  and  Englishmen  as  they  were,  and  we 
can  well  appreciate  the  shock  which  it  sent  through  the 
Quaker  circles  of  Newport.  The  blood  of  martyrs  became 
the  seed  of  the  church,  on  this  as  on  so  many  occasions;  and 
Edward  Wanton,  a  citizen  of  Boston,  who  stood  within  the 
shadow  of  Mary  Dyer's  gallows,  marveling  at  her  heroic 
constancy,  was  converted  to  her  faith,  removed  to  Rhode 
Island,  and  became  the  ancestor  of  a  line  of  Quaker  worth- 
ies, among  whom  were  at  least  three  governors  of  the  Island 
commonwealth.  The  other  Rhode  Islanders  who  accompa- 
nied Mary  Dyer  to  Boston  were  imprisoned  for  two  months 


*Cf.  Whittier's  "Snow-Bound. 


Then,  haply,  with  a  look  more  grave. 
And  soberer  tone,  some  tale  she  gave 
From  painful  Sewell's  ancient  tome, 
Beloved  in  every  Quaker  home, 
Of  faith  fire-winged  by  martyrdom." 


38 

and  then  whipped,  Daniel  Gould  receiving  thirty  lashes.* 
John  Rous,  an  English  Quaker  missionary,  writing  to 
Margaret  Fell  on  the  3rd  of  September,  1658,  from  what  he 
described  as  "the  Lion's  den  called  Boston  prison,"  gives  the 
following  enthusiastic  report :  "Truth  is  spread  here  above 
200  miles,  and  many  in  the  land  are  in  fine  conditions,  and 
very  sensible  of  the  power  of  God,  and  walk  honestly  in 
their  measures.  And  some  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  land, 
who  are  Friends,  have  been  forth  in  the  service  and  they  do 
more  grieve  the  enemy  than  we,  for  they  have  hope  to  be  rid 
of  us,  but  they  have  no  hope  to  be  rid  of  them.  We  keep 
the  burden  of  the  service  olf  from  them  at  present,  for  no 
sooner  is  there  need  in  a  place,  but  straightway  some  or 
other  of  us  step  to  it,  but,  when  it  is  the  will  of  the  Father 
to  clear  us  of  this  land,  then  will  the  burden  fall  on  them." 
After  speaking  of  the  condition  of  "the  Seed"  in  Boston, 
Plymouth,  Connecticut  and  New  Haven,  Rous  reports :  "We 
have  two  strong  places  in  this  land,  the  one  at  Newport  in 
Rhode  Island,  and  the  other  at  Sandwich,  which  the  enemy 
will  never  get  dominion  over.  "  The  Massachusetts  "enemy" 
tried  for  a  score  of  years,  especially  by  enforcing  the  notori- 
ous "Cart  and  Whip  Act,"  to  get  dominion  over  the  Friends, 
but  Rous's  prophecy  proved  true. 

The  first  meeting-place  of  the  Friends  of  Newport  was 
the  large  living-room  in  the  house  of  Wm.  Coddington, 
which  stood  for  many  years  on  Marlborough  St.,  opposite 
Duke  St.  The  lot  on  which  it  stood  was  six  acres  in  size, 
and  bounded  by  Marlborough,  Farewell,  North  Baptist  and 
Thames  Streets.  In  this  were  held  the  Yearly  Meetings,  at 
least  until  Coddington's  death,  and  many  another  meeting 
which  was  too  large  for  the  house.  The  first  Meeting  House 
proper  was  built  near  the  corner  of  Marlborough  and  Fare- 
well Streets  in  1672,  and  is  believed  to  have  been  the  first 
house  built  distinctly  as  a  house  of  worship  in  Rhode  Island. 


*This  punishment,  Gould  says,  was  inflicted  upon  him  while  he  was"tyed 
to  the  carriage  of  a  great  Earn."  Two  other  men  received  fifteen  stripes, 
and  the  women  ten  stripes,  each  ;  after  which,  Gould  records,  "we  were  all 
lead  back  to  prison  where  our  lodgings  were  with  our  sore  backs  upon  the 

boards,  where  we  remained  until  after  the  Execution. And  this  is  my 

comfort  to  this  day,  and  I  bless  God  for  it,  that  my  sufferings  were  in  great 
Innocence." 


39 

Its  successor,  on  the  same  site,  was  built  in  1699-1700.*  The 
women's  section  was  added  in  1808,  since  which  time  it  has 
retained  its  present  form  and  dimensions. 

The  following  iteins  relating  to  the  building  of  the  Meet- 
ing House  I  culled  from  the  minutes  of  the  Newport  Monthly 
Meeting,  Vol.  1  (1676-1707-8),  which  are  preserved  in  the 
vaults  of  the  Newport  Historical  Society: 

P.  60  (98)  :  At  a  monthly  mens  meeting  at  newport  in 
Rhoad  Island  at  our  meeting  house  ye  7th.  Day  of  ye  12th 
moth  1698:  ffriends  have  proposed  to  have  a  meeting  house 
Built  at  Portsmouth  and  alsoe  to  have  a  Large  meeting 
house  built  at  new  porte  and  ffriends  are  Desired  to  sub- 
scribe what  theye  are  willing:  tfor  ye  performing  of  of 
Boath  (mathew  Borden  Gidion  ffreborne  John  Borden  and 
Abraham  Anthony  (are  appynted  to  carey  one  the  meeting 
house  at  Portsmouth  and  to  Receive  ye  colections  ffor  that 
purpose  and  that  theye  doe  agree  wheare  to  Erect  it  and 
make  Report  to  our  next  Monthly  meeting. 

Walter  Clarke  Ebinezer  Slocum  Jacob  mott  John  Bor- 
den: are  aded  to  Execators  of  Wm  Edwards  to  maneg  and 
take  ceare  of  ye  land  bought  of  Ann  Bull  and  all  other  con- 
sarnes  Relating  to  the  Estate  of  Wm  Edw^ards  wch  is  Left  to 
this  meeting." 

P.  64  (102)  :  At  a  monthly  mens  meeting  at  newport  at 
our  monthly  meeting  house  ye  27  4th  mo.  1699  .  .  .  This 
meeting  hath  thought  convenient  to  choose  some  ffriends  & 
appoynte  ym  to  erect  and  Build  a  meeting  house  and  theye 
consult  aboute  the  mater  how^  and  wheare  &  ye  Dcmensions 
and  make  Returne  to  our  next  mens  meeting. 

John  Easton :     Senr  Walter  Clarke  Edward  Thurstone : 
John  Easton  Junr  Danl:  Gould  John:  StantonTho:  Cornell 
Lathum:    Clark  John:    Gould  Wm  Barker  Wm  Alen   ffor 
newporte  ffor  cononicutt :  Joseph :  mody  &  Eb- 
inezer Slocum 
ffor  portsmoth:  Jacob  mott:  &  ma- 
thew borden 


*This  is  the  middle  part  of  the  present  house,  45  x  46  ft.,  with  two  rows 
of  galleries,  one  above  the  other,  a  hipped  roof,  and  a  tower,  10  ft.  square 
and  10  ft.  high.     It  cost  £261  18s.  9d. 


40 

and  that  They  doe  meete  togeather  at  our  meeting  house  ye 
10th  daye  of  ye  5th'.  moth:  1699:  being  one  2d  daye  of  ye 
week. 

7-19  1699  ffriends  have  appoynted  to  Laye  out  ye 
place  wheare  ye  meeting  house  shal :  stand  &  to  doe  it  after 
ye  meeting 

8-17-1699  ffriends  have  Layed  oute  and  appoynted  ye 
place  wheare  ye  meeting  house  shall  stand  and  have  brought 
Great  Stones  &  other  stones  to  Laye  ye  ffoundation 

Quarterly  Meeting  at  Newport,4-4-1700:  Rhoad  Island 
monthly  meeting  being  called  one  (to  know  what  Buisiness 
theye  have  Refered  to  this  meeting)  Thomas  Cornell  &  Jacob 
mot:  acquainted  this  meeting  yt  some  ffriends  were  not  Sat- 
tisfied  aboute  ye  Lanthorne,  and  ye  new  meeting  house  [at 
Portsmouth] ;  ffriends  having  had  much  Debate  in  Love  and 
condisending  one  to  another  have  Left  ye  mater  [sold  Ports- 
mouth's old  meeting  house  to  Joseph  mory  3-28-1700;  for 
11:14;  towards  new  house  (see  Minute  for  5-23-1700;  Books 
and  papers  of  Mtg.  placed  in  care  of  John  Easton  Jr.] 

8-25-1700  Thomas  Cornell  desires  yt  ffriends  would  ap- 
poynt  some  to :  account  with  him  aboute  ye  charge  in  build- 
ing ye  new  meeting  house  in  Newport  ffriends  have 
chosen  [4] 

9-12-1700  Thomas  Cornell's  charge  presented — 

ye  whole  charge  is 

colected  by  subscription 
oute  of:  ffriends  stock 

268      -      5-0 
£    s    d 
The  overplusse  is  6 :  6 :  3 :  wch  is 

given  to  Thomas  Cornell's  wife 

Thomas  Cornell  is  ordered  to  ffite  ye  old  meeting  house 
ffor  this  winter  season. 

10-10-1700  Two  Friends  desired  to  "Build  a  shedd  in 
ffriends  yarde  at  new  porte  to  sett  horses  under". 


£ 

s 

d 

261: 

-     18 

-    9 

168 

-     05 

-     0 

100 

-     00 

-     0 

41 

6-19-1701  "It  is  proposed  to  Build  a  meeting  house  at 
piovideoce  wch  is  Liked  &  Refered  to  our  next  mens  meet- 
ing." 

The  records  of  the  births,  deaths  and  marriages  of  the 
Newport  Friends  begin  in  1672,  probably  as  a  result  of  the 
advice  of  George  Fox,  who  visited  them  that  year.  On  the 
inside  cover  of  the  book  for  recording  marriages  is  the  fol- 
lowing memorandum:  "Friends  two  books  bought  at  Bos- 
ton cost  20  shillings,  the  biggest  for  births  and  Deaths,  and 
the  lesser  book  for  marriages  only.  So  ordered  at  the  mans 
meeting  of  friends  at  the  House  of  William  Coddington  in 
the  town  of  New  Port  in  Road  Island  in  the  yeare  1672,  the 
22th  day  of  ye  8-m  1672."  The  iirst  death  recorded  is  that  of 
Mary  Coddington,  the  wife  of  William,  in  1617,  and  the 
record  is  accompanied  by  the  statement  that  she  "was  buried 
in  the  burying  place  of  Friends  that  was  given  to  the  Friends 
by  William  Coddington,  her  husband." 

The  Newport  Monthly  Meeting  was  established  in  1658, 
eighteen  years  before  its  records  began;  and  this  was  soon 
followed  by  the  Rhode  Island  Quarterly  Meeting,  which  con- 
stituted with  those  of  Salem  and  Sandwich  the  only  three 
Quarterly  Meetings  which  New  England  possessed  before 
1781.  The  Rhode  Island  Quarterly  Meeting  w^as  held  once  in 
three  months  at  Smithfield,  Dartmouth,  Swansea,  and  Green- 
wich, respectively,  while  Newport  was  the  seat  of  the  Yearly 
Meeting.  This  last  meeting  was  the  most  important  meeting  in 
New  England*,  for  while  it  was  at  first  a  large  "General 
Meeting"  for  worship  and  fellowship  only,  it  soon  came  to 
exercise  disciplinary  powers  and  to  be  the  focus  of  all  the 
monthly  and  quarterly  meetings  of  New  England.  Its  first 
session  was  held  in  Newport  in  1661  at  the  suggestion  of 
George  Rofe,  an  English  Friend,  and  was  so  largely  attended 
that  the  Boston  officials  are  said  by  a  contemporary**  to 
have  "made  an  alarm  that  the  Quakers  were  gathering  to 
kill  the  people  and  fire  the  town  of  Boston."  Until  1695,  the 
Friends  of  Long  Island,  as  well  as  of  New  England,  came  to 
Newport  to  attend  the  Yearly  Meeting  and  we  may  almost 
say  of  it  what  Whittier  said  of  the  Quaker  Alumni  of  the 


*Its  records  date  from  1683. 
**Bishop's  "New  England  Judged." 


42 

Providence  School:  "From  the  well-springs  of  Hudson,  the 
sea-cliffs  of  Maine,  Grave  men,  sober  matrons,  you  gather 
again";  and  we  can  well  understand  how  it  became  for  all 
northern  Quakerism  in  those  isolated  and  seemingly  hum- 
drum days  the  great  social  and  educational  as  well  as  relig- 
ious event  of  the  year.  The  meeting's  size  may  be  estimated 
from  the  fact  that  by  1700  one-half  of  Rhode  Island's  popula- 
tion and  one-third  of  its  places  of  worship  belonged  to  the 
Quakers.  Indeed,  they  and  the  Baptists  had  practically 
preempted  the  colony  between  them,  much  to  the  disgust  of 
the  clergymen  of  the  Church  of  England,  one  of  whom 
complained  that  the  Quakers  turned  their  backs  on  every- 
body's reading  of  the  Scriptures  except  their  own,  and  were 
unapproachable  and  unyielding  in  matters  of  faith. 

The  Newport  Yearly  Meeting  grew  steadily  until  the 
middle  of  the  Eighteenth  century,  and  was  especially  large 
when  some  distinguished  visitor  was  expected  to  be  present. 
George  Fox  and  six  other  eminent  ministers  attended  it  in 
1672,  and  so  inany  people  flocked  to  it  from  all  sides  that 
they  required  two  days  after  it  was  over,  to  take  leave  of  all 
the  friends  they  had  made  during  its  sessions*.  The  name  of 
Farewell  Street  was  again  appropriate  to  the  scene.  When 
such  men  as  Thomas  Chalkley,  John  Richardson,  Thomas 
Story,  John  and  Samuel  Fothergill,  visited  the  meeting  in 
later  years,  its  attendants  numbered,  in  1722,  2000,  and  5000 
in  1743,  when  it  was  probably  Ihe  largest  in  the  world.  About 
the  end  of  the  century,  1798,  the  system  of  definite  represen- 
tation in  it  of  monthly  and  quarterly  meetings  was  estab- 
lished, and,  \\dth  a  similar  system  in  the  Yearly  Meetings  of 
the  South,  and  the  pure  democracy  of  the  many  monthly 
meetings,  it  rivalled  the  Puritan  town  meeting,  the  Cavalier 
county  court,  and  the  colonial  assemblies,  as  a  nursery  of 
that  government  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the 
people  which  blossomed  forth  nearly  a  century  later. 


*George  Fox's  "Journal",  II,  160:  "The  glorious  power  of  the  Lord 
which  was  over  all,  and  His  blessed  truth  and  life  flowing  amongst  them, 
had  so  knit  and  united  them  together  that  they  spent  two  days  in  taking 
leave  of  one  another  and  of  the  Friends  of  the  Island,  and  then,  being 
mightily  filled  with  the  presence  and  power  of  the  Lord,  they  went  away 
with  joyful  hearts  to  their  various  habitations." 


43 

Roger  Williams  attended  the  Newport  Yearly  Meeting 
in  1671,  and  was  moved  to  make  some  comment  on  the 
doctrine  he  had  heard;  but  he  was  "stopt",  he  says,  "by  the 
sudden  praying  of  the  Governor's  wife  [Ann,  the  wife  of 
Nicholas  Easton]".  He  stood  up  again,  and  again  he  was 
"stopt  by  John  Burnett's  [Burnyeat's]  sudden  falling  to 
prayer  and  dismissing  the  assembly".*  He  did  not  come  to 
the  meeting  the  next  year  when  George  Fox  and  his  compan- 
ions were  there;  but  they  went  to  Providence  and  held  two 
large  meetings,  one  of  them  in  "a  greate  barne",  says  Fox, 
"which  was  soe  full  of  people,  yt  I  was  extremely  soaked 
with  sweat,  but  all  was  well".  All  was  wrong,  Roger  Williams 
thought,  and  he  challenged  Fox  to  debate  fourteen  proposi- 
tions, or  accusations  against  the  Quakers,  with  him.  This 
challenge  was  not  received  by  Fox  until  he  had  left  Newport 
on  his  way  south;  but  it  was  accepted  by  some  of  his  associ- 
ates whom  Williams  calls  "His  Holiness,  George  Fox's  Jour- 
neymen and  Chaplains." 

The  debate  was  arranged  in  a  visit  which  the  Friends 
made  to  Williams's  home  in  Providence,  and  the  day  before 
it  was  to  be  held  in  Newport  the  sturdy  septuagenarian 
rowed  thirty  miles  down  the  Bay  to  engage  in  it.  "God 
graciously  helped  me",  he  says,  "in  rowing  all  day  with  my 
old  bones  so  that  I  got  to  Newport  toward  the  midnight 
before  the  morning  appointed."  He  had  engaged  to  debate 
his  propositions  with  all  comers,  and  encountered  three 
Quaker  champions,  and,  before  great  crowds  of  listeners, 
with  Governor  Easton  presiding  and  maintaining  "the  civil 
peace",the  theological,  ecclesiastical  and  at  times  personal 
debate  waxed  and  waned  throughout  three  long  summer 
days.  It  must  have  been  a  strange  scene  to  any  eyes,  and 
doubly  so  to  ours  accustomed  in  Newport  to  contests  of  such 
different  kinds, — tennis,  yachting,  polo,  dog-shows,  etc., — 
which  was  enacted  down  on  Marlborough  Street  in  those 
quaint  old  colonial  times.  Providence  was  jealous  of  New- 
port's good  fortune,  and  it  was  accordingly  arranged  that 
half  of  the  debate  should  be  held  in  that  town.  The  audience, 
or  a  large   part  of  it,   appears   to   have   accompanied   the 


"George  Fox  Digged  out  of  his  Burrowes. " 


44 

debaters  to  Providence,  but  a  single  day  was  sufficient  then 
to  end  it.  Leave  to  print  was  given  to  the  respective  contest- 
ants, and  Roger  Williams  issued  his  "George  Fox  Digged  out 
of  his  Burrowes",  while  the  Friends  replied  in  "A  New  Eng- 
land Firebrand  Quenched".*  John  Burnyeat  says  in  his 
"Journal"**:  "It  would  be  tedious  here  to  insert  the  Dis- 
course [that  is,  an  account  of  the  debate  in  Newport],  if  I 
were  able;  but  I  cannot  remember  it.  There  is  a  Book  in 
Manuscript,  of  what  was  taken  in  Short-hand  of  the  Dis- 
course at  that  present." 

It  is  probably  fortunate  that  the  Ms.  Book  is  not  well 
known;  for  judging  from  expressions  in  the  printed  books, 
the  debate  was  probably  at  times  bitter  and  undignified. 
Roger  Williams,  for  example,  characterizes  William  Ed- 
mondson,  one  of  the  Quaker  champions,  as  having  "A  flash 
of  wit,  a  face  of  Brass,  and  a  Tongue  set  on  fire  from  the  Hell 
of  Lyes  and  Fury";     while  Edmondson  calls  Williams  "an 

old  Priest  and  an  enemy  of  Truth, a  bitter  old  man 

full  of  Weakness,  Folly  and  Envy  against  the  Truth  and  the 
Friends." 

More  pleasing  is  it  for  us  to  recall  the  meeting  at  New- 
port in  more  kindly  years  between  Channing  and  Whittier 
and  the  English  Friend,  Joseph  Sturge,  when — 

"No  bars  of  sect  or  clime  were  felt, — 

The  Babel  strife  of  tongues  had  ceased,— 
And  at  one  common  altar  knelt 
The  Quaker  and  the  Priest."  *** 

Theological  controversy,  however,  was  like  the  breath 
of  life  in  the  Seventeenth  and  Eighteenth  Centuries;  and 
the  Newport  Friends  showed  their  recognition  of  its  import- 
ance by  engaging  James  Franklin,  Benjamin's  brother,  who 
becaine  the  first  printer  in  Newport  in  1729,  to  issue  as  one  of 
his   first   books   Robert    Barclay's    "Apology    for    the    True 


*Staples  believes  that  this  was  written  chiefly  by  Richard  Scott,  "the 
first  Friend  in  Providence." 

**P.  53. 

***Whittier's  "Channing." 


45 

Christian  Divinity,  as  the  same  is  set  forth  and  preached  by 
the  people  called  in  scorn  Quakers."* 

But  the  Quakers  of  the  olden  times, — as  they  "walked 
with  noiseless  feet  the  round  of  uneventful  years,  and  o'er 
and  o'er  they  sowed  the  spring  and  reaped  the  autumn 
ears", — realized  in  every  successive  day's  experience  that 

"From  scheme  and  creed  the  light  goes  out, 
The  saintly  fact  survives  : 
The  blessed  Master  none  can  doubt 
Revealed  in  Holy  lives." 

And  we  believe  that  the  early  Friends  of  Newport  strove, 
in  spite  of  human  weakness  and  defects,  so  to  live  that  when 
they  left  this  island  home  they  should  leave  it  in  some  slight 
measure  "hallowed  by  pure  lives  and  tranquil  deaths."  Like 
their  fellows  elsewhere,  they  were  Puritans  of  an  advanced 
type,  and  set  up  in  their  "advices,"  "queries,"  "family  visits," 
and  meetings  for  discipline  and  worship,  a  standard  of  mor- 
ality which  gave  first  place  to  honesty,  sobriety  and  simplic- 
ity. This  led  them  to  insist  on  the  strict  keeping  of  promises 
in  business,  and  to  punish  such  business  practices  as  "the 
salting  up  unmerchantable  beef  and  exposing  it  for  sale;" 
also  to  denounce  lotteries,  at  a  time  when  even  churches  and 
colleges  depended  upon  this,  now  admittedly,  dishonest 
source  of  revenue;  to  deprecate  "fiddling,  dancing  and  card- 
playing,"  at  a  time  when  these  were  almost  the  sole  and  the 
universal  diversion  of  youth  and  age  alike,  but  when  they  so 
often  led  to  evil  habits;  and  to  moderate  the  strong,  natural 
desire  to  "follow  the  fashion."  Wigs, — or  "Perry  Wiggs,"  as 
they  spelled  and  called  them, — gave  them  an  inordinate 
amount  of  trouble.  One  meeting,  for  example,  expressed  its 
sentiments  on  this,  at  that  time,  capital  article  of  apparel  as 
follows:  "All  Friends  who  suppose  that  they  have  need  of 
wiggs  ought  to  take  the  advice  and  approbation  of  the  vis- 
itors [that  is,  the  overseers]  of  their  respective  [monthly] 
meetings  before  they  proceed  to  get  one.  And  it  is  the  tender 
advice  and  brotherly  request  of  this  Meeting  that  all  be  care- 


*This  is  the  6th  Edition  in  English  ;  a  copy  of  it  is  in  the  Redwood 
Library,  and  a  copy  is  in  the  Historical  Society.  Franklin  also  printed,  in 
Newport  in  1752,  Barclay's  "Catechism." 


46 

fill  to  observe  the  same,  and  not  in  a  careless  or  overly- 
minded  cutt  of  their  hair  (which  is  given  them  for  a  cover- 
ing) to  put  on  a  wigg  or  indecent  capp  which  has  been  ob- 
served of  late  years  to  be  a  growing  practice  among  too 
many  of  the  young  men  in  several  parts,  to  the  trouble  of 
many  honest  Friends,  it  plainly  appearing  (in  some)  for  a 
imitation  and  joyning  with  the  spirit  and  fashion  of  the 
world." 

As  early  as  1673,  the  monthly,  quarterly,  and  yearly 
meetings  of  Rhode  Island  began  to  oppose  the  use,  manufac- 
ture, sale  or  gift  of  alcoholic  liquors,  except  for  medicinal 
purposes,  and  thus  gave  an  early  impulse  to  the  prohibition 
w^ave  which  is  running  high  in  our  time,  both  in  peace  and 
in  war.  It  was  not  only  for  their  own  members  that  they 
were  thus  concerned.  The  Yearly  Meeting  of  1784,  for  ex- 
ample, passed  the  following  minute:  "We  entreai  that  they 
[the  members  of  the  Society  in  New  England]  forbear  th'e 
said  practices  that  a  line  may  in  due  time  be  drawn,  and  the 
standard  be  raised  and  spread  to  the  nation." 

The  Quaker  testimony  against  the  taking  of  oaths, 
whether  as  an  expletive  in  private  conversation  or  in  judicial 
procedure,  received  recognition  in  Rhode  Island  from  the 
very  beginning,  and  afhrmation  was  permitted  in  their  stead. 
In  this  too,  the  nation  has  followed  the  Quaker  lead,  to  which 
Rhode  Island's  Quaker  Government  gave  such  early  prestige. 

The  great  curse  of  the  slave-trade,  domestic  and  foreign, 
and  of  slave  ownership,  was  a  truly  formidable  one  for  the 
Quakers  to  grapple  with,  especially  perhaps  in  Newport, 
w^hich  was  of  s^ich  commercial  importance,  and  in  Rhode 
Island,  w4iere  slavery  existed  on  a  relatively  large  scale. 

From  the  beginnings  of  the  Society,  the  meetings  dealt 
iseverely  with  their  members  for  any  case  of  cruel  treatment 
of  their  slaves,  and  insisted  on  a  treatment  of  them  consistent 
with  humanity  and  religion. 

Rhode  Island's  Quaker  governor,  Walter  Clarke,  refused 
to  permit  his  colony  to  participate  in  New  England's  sale  of 
Indian  prisoners  into  slavery,  after  King  Philip's  War,  in 
1676,  and  procured  the  passage  of  a  law  providing  that  "no 
Indian  in  this  colony  be  a  slave." 

As  early  as  1717,  the  Yearly  Meeting  in  Newport  began 


47 

to  oppose  both  the  trade  in  and  ownership  of  negro  skives. 
After  the  painful  efforts  of  two  generations  of  such  Quaker 
opponents  of  slavery  as  "College  Tom"  Hazard  of  South 
Kingstown,  and  the  saintly  John  Woolman,  of  New  Jersey, 
and  as  a  result  of  the  even  more  painful  "dealings"  of  the  va- 
rious New  England  monthly  meetings  with  their  slave-owning 
members  (such  as  Stephen  Hopkins,  for  example,  and 
Joshua  Rathbun),  the  Newport  Yearly  Meeting  in  1773  was 
able  at  last  to  wipe  the  stain  of  the  iniquitous  system  entire- 
ly from  its  skirts.  The  next  year,  1774,  the  Yearly  Meeting 
appointed  a  committee  to  work  for  abolition  in  Rhode 
Island,  and  had  the  satisfaction  in  the  same  year  of  seeing 
one  of  its  former  members,  Stephen  Hopkins,  draft  Rhode 
Island's  act  against  the  further  enslavement  of  negroes  with- 
in its  borders.  The  Y'^early  Meeting's  gratification  at  this  event 
was  probably  increased  by  the  reflection  that  its  distin- 
guished member,  wdio  was  nine  times  governor  of  the  colony, 
had  been  "disowned"  by  Smithfield  Monthly  Meeting  be- 
cause he  would  not  yield  to  Friends  in  the  freeing  of  his  one 
slave  woman. 

Thus  the  Newport  and  Rhode  Island  Friends  bore  an 
honorable  part  in  that  colonial  movement  for  abolition 
w^hich  was  to  become,  through  a  long  course  of  moral,  polit- 
ical and  industrial  education,  a  great  national  reality. 

The  Quaker  "testimony"  which  appears  to  be  of  most 
public  interest  in  the  present  day  is  the  rejection  of  war 
as  a  means  of  settling  disputes  between  and  among  nations 
and  the  substitution  for  it  of  a  more  civilized  and  effective 
means.  Newport  Quaker  history  sheds  much  instructive  light 
upon  this  great  world-problem,  and  a  bare  glimpse  of  it 
must  be  given  here  in  concluding  this  over-long  address. 

The  use  of  "carnal"  weapons  the  Quakers  have  rejected 
from  the  beginning  of  their  history,  both  as  wrong  in  itself 
and  as  fatal  to  the  success  of  those  "spiritual"  weapons 
which  alone  they  regard  as  right  and  effective.  In  their  ef- 
forts to  keep  their  members  up  to  this  standard,  the  meet- 
ings have  "labored  with"  or  "disowned"  many  a  "fighting 
Quaker,"  like  the  favorite  general  of  Washington  in  the  Rev- 
olution, Nathaniel  Greene  of  Warwick,  Rhode  Island,  and 
Jacob  Rrowne  of  Rucks  County,  Pennsylvania,  who  held  high 


48 

command  in  the  War  of  1812.  In  spite  of  such  distinguished 
dehnquents,  the  Society  as  a  whole  has  kept  its  ancient  testi- 
mony hright  and  untarnished,  and  accepts  with  due  appre- 
ciation our  national  government's  recognition  of  it  during 
the  present  great  war.  It  is  a  cause  of  gratification  to  many 
Friends  today  that  the  Society  has  strenuously  endeavored 
to  persuade  the  government  to  place  this  exemption,  not 
upon  corporate  membership,  but  solely  upon  individual 
conscience,  and  that  it  has  in  some  small  measure  succeeded 
in  its  endeavor.  While  the  Quakers  in  the  colonies  suffered 
much  by  fine  and  imprisonment  for  refusing  to  "train"  and 
to  bear  arms  in  Queen  Anne's,  King  George's,  and  the  French 
and  Indian  wars,  Rhode  Island  set  a  better  example  under 
its  Quaker  governor,  Nicholas  Easton,  by  passing,  on  the  13th 
of  August,  1673,  an  act  exempting  from  military  service  those 
who  were  opposed  to  it  for  conscience'  sake.  "The  inhabit- 
ants of  this  colony,"  declares  this  deservedly  famous  act, 
"have  a  conscience  against  exacting  an  oath,  ....  how 
much  more  ought  such  men  forbear  to  compel  their  equal 
neighbors  against  their  conscience  to  trayne  to  fight  and 
to  kill Bee  it  therefore  enacted  by  his  Majesty's  au- 
thority, that  noe  person  (within  this  Colony),  that  is  or  here- 
after shall  be  persuaded  in  his  conscience  that  he  cannot  or 
ought  not  to  trayne,  to  learne  to  fight,  nor  to  war,  nor  kill 
any  person  or  persons,  shall  at  any  time  be  compelled  against 
his  judgment  and  conscience  to  trayne,  arm,  or  fight,  to  kill 
any  person  or  persons  by  reason  of  or  at  the  command  of 
any  officer  of  this  Collony,  civil  or  military,  nor  by  reason 
of  any  by-law  here  past  or  formerly  enacted;  nor  shall  any 
suffer  any  punishment,  fine,  distraint,  penalty,  nor  imprison- 
-ment,  who  cannot  in  conscience  traine,  fight,  nor  kill  any 
person  nor  persons  for  the  aforesaid  reasons." 

This  sweeping  exemption  for  conscience'  sake  was 
passed  just  before  King  Philip's  War,  and  when  that  war 
became  imminent  the  Quakers  of  Newport  endeavored  their 
utmost  to  prevent  it  and  to  settle  the  respective  grievances 
(Of  the  Indians  and  the  English  by  means  of  arbitration. 
'William  Coddington  was  governor  at  the  time,  and  doubt- 
less at  his  suggestion  a  committee  of  five  members  of  the 
flhode  Island   assembly,  with    John    Easton,    Junior,    the 


49 

Quaker  deputy-governor  at  their  head,  rowed  up  to  King 
Philip's  headquarters  at  Mount  Hope  and  argued  and  plead 
an  entire  day  with  him  and  his  chieftains  in  belialf  of  arbi- 
tration. "We  told  them,"  Easton  records  in  his  "Narrative," 
"that  our  desire  was  that  the  quarrel  might  be  rightly  de- 
cided in  the  best  way,  not  as  dogs  decide  their  quarrels." 
The  Indians  frankly  "owned  that  fighting  was  the  worst  way; 
but  they  inquired  how  right  might  take  place  without  fight- 
ing. We  said  by  arbitration.  They  said  that  by  arbitration 
the  English  agreed  against  them,  and  so  by  arbitration  they 
had  much  wrong. .  .  .  We  said  they  might  chuse  a  Indian 
King  and  the  English  might  chuse  the  Governor  of  New 
Yorke,  that  neither  had  case  [should  have  cause]  to  say 
that  either  wear  parties  to  the  difference.  They  said  they 
had  not  heard  of  this  way." 

The  Quaker  pleader  doubtless  also  reminded  the  .'ndi- 
ii;  s  of  the  mutual  justice  and  friendship  which  had  existed 
for  so  long  in  Rhode  Island  between  them  and  the  English, 
and  of  the  fact  that  his  father.  Governor  Nicholas  Easton, 
had  recently  provided  that  one-half  of  the  jury  in  trials 
w^here  Indians  were  involved  should  be  Indians,  and  that 
the  evidence  of  Indians  should  be  accepted  as  equal  with 
that  of  an  Englishman.  But  the  Indians  remembered  the 
Pequot  War  and  many  another  sad  and  sorry  incident  in  the 
relations  between  the  Indians  and  the  English  outside  of 
Rhode  Island,  and  feared  to  entrust  their  case  to  arbitra- 
tion. "We  were  persuaded,"  Easton  concludes,  "that  if  this 
way  had  been  tendered  [by  the  other  colonies]  they  would 
have  accepted."* 

A  half-dozen  years  later,  another  Quaker  inaugurated 
in  Pennsylvania  his  Holy  Experiment,  which  included  among 
other  illustrious  American  principles  and  practices  the 
great  method  of  arbitration  and  judicial  settlement  in  place 
of  war.  It  is  of  much  interest  to  the  student  of  Rhode 
Island's  history  to  find  thus  early  the  statesmanlike  policy 
which,  adopted  by  Penn  in  Pennsylvania  in  1682,  and  ad- 


*For  a  more  detailed  account  of  this  episode,  Cf.  an  article  in  the 
Finends  Intelligencer^  for  Eleventh  Month  3,  1917,  entitled  "The  Peace 
Programme  of  Rhode  Island  Friends,  1675,"  by  Wm.  I.  Hull. 


50 

vocated  by  him  in  his  great  "Essay"  of  1693  for  appUcat^oii 
to  the  war-worn  Europe  of  his  time,  became  the  corner-stone 
of  our  j^merican  republic,  and  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Hague  Conference  is  destined  to  become  the  accepted  and 
habitual  practice  of  the  nations. 

In  view  of  these  and  other  still  waters  of  life  which 
flowed  through  the  Quaker  centers  of  colonial  Newport  and 
Rhode  Island,  some  small  part  of  which  has  been  but  faint- 
ly reflected  in  this  address,  I  trust  that  it  is  not  too  much 
to  claim  with  the  modest  Whittier: 

"No  honors  of  war  to  our  worthies  belong  ; 
Their  plain  stem  of  life  never  flowered  into  song  : 
But  the  fountains  they  opened  still  gush  by  the  way, 
And  the  world  for  their  healing  is  better  to-day." 


REV.  DR.  SAMUEL  HOPKINS 


A  Paper  read  before  the  Newport  Historical  Society 
February  6th,  1917 


By 
Rev.  CLARIS   EDWIN   SILGOX 


SAMUEL   HOPKINS 


In  one  of  his  earliest  and  most  fascinating  books,  Fried- 
rich  Nietzsche,  the  enfant  terrible  of  German  philosophy, 
wrote:  "Every  man  and  nation  needs  a  certain  knowledge 
of  the  past,  whether  it  be  through  monumental,  antiquarian, 
or  critical   history,   according   to   his   objects,    powers   and 

necessities."     "History  is   necessary to    the    man   of 

action  and  power  who  fights  a  great  fight  and  needs  exam- 
ples, teachers  and  comforters  ....  It  ...  .  shows  us  how 
to  bear  steadfastly  the  reverses  of  fortune,  by  reminding  us 
of  what  others  have  suffered."  This  is  its  monumental 
function.  Next,  Nietzsche  says,  "history  is  necessary  to  the 
man  of  conservative  and  reverent  nature  who  looks  back  to 
the  origins  of  his  existence  with  love  and  trust;  through  it, 
he  gives  thanks  for  life.  The  possession  of  his  ancestor's 
furniture  changes  its  meaning  in  his  soul;  for  his  soul  is 
rather  possessed  by  it.  All  that  is  small  and  limited,  mouldy 
and  obsolete,  gains  a  worth  and  inviolability  of  its  own  from 
the  ....  soul  of  the  antiquary  migrating  into  it,  and 
building  a  secret  nest  there.  The  history  of  the  town 
becomes  the  history  of  himself;  he  looks  on  the  walls,  the 
turreted  gates,  the  town  council,  the  fair,  as  an  illustrated 
diary  of  his  youth,  and  sees  himself  in  it  all  ...  .  He  greets 
the  soul  of  his  people  from  afar  as  his  own,  across  the  dim 
and  troubled  centuries;  his  gifts  and  his  virtues  lie  in  such 
power  of  feeling  and  divination,  his  scent  of  a  half-vanished 
trail,  his  instinctive  correctness  in  reading  the  scribbled 
past."  Such  is  the  antiquarian  use  of  history.  And  finally, 
says  Nietzsche,  is  the  scholar's,  or  critical,  use  of  history. 
Here  the  past  is  brought  to  the  bar  of  judgment,  is  interro- 
gated remorselessly,  and  finally  condemned.  "Every  past," 
said  the  philosopher,  "is  worth  condemning." 


54 

Now,  our  attitude  tonight  in  considering  the  life  and 
work  of  Samuel  Hopkins,  is  three-fold  in  its  nature.  We 
shall  approach  him  with  the  love  of  the  antiquary,  because 
Hopkins  was  an  important  figure  in  the  history  of  this  town 
at  its  most  interesting  period,  viz.,  from  1770  to  the  first 
years  of  the  nineteenth  century.  We  shall  also  look  to  him 
for  inspiration,  for  he  is  an  inspiring  figure,  heroic,  harmo- 
nizing in  himself  the  moral  severity  of  the  Puritan  with  a 
Christ-like  passion  for  the  souls  and  well-being  of  men.  And 
we  shall  try  to  be  critical,  not  only  of  the  man,  but  also  of 
the  age,  praising  what  is  worthy  of  praise  and  modestly  cen- 
suring that  which  deserves  criticism. 

For  the  benefit  of  such  as  may  not  be  conversant  with 
the  outstanding  facts  in  the  life  of  Hopkins,  it  may  be  said 
that  he  was  not  a  native  of  Newport,  but  came  here  in  1770 
and  until  the  day  of  his  death  in  December,  1803,  was 
minister  of  the  First  Congregational  Church  in  this  city. 
Thus  for  thirty-three  years  he  was  associated  with  the  his- 
tory of  this  town,  preaching  in  the  old  church  now  used  as 
an  auction  room  on  Mill  street,  and  living  in  the  house  almost 
directly  opposite  the  Union  Congregational  Church  on  Divi- 
sion street.  After  the  Revolutionary  war,  when  his  own 
church  was  too  badly  damaged  to  be  used  for  Divine 
worship,  and  until  sufficient  funds  had  been  collected  to 
repair  it,  his  congregation  met  in  this  meeting-house*  which 
was  large  enough  for  his  diminished  and  impoverished 
people.  In  Newport  he  wrote  his  System  of  Divinity  which 
was  published  in  1792  and  created  a  great  stir  not  only  in 
Newport  but  even  in  England  and  Scotland  and  won  for  its 
many  distinguishing  views  the  name  "Hopkinsian"  or  "Hop- 
kintonian."  These  views  were  in  reality  a  modification  of 
the  Calvinistic  position  and  were  considered  heretical  and 
worthy  of  classification  under  St.  Paul's  "philosophy  and 
vain  deceit"  by  a  large  number  of  ministers  and  theologians. 
Hopkins  died  and  was  buried  here;  and  when  the  First  and 
Second  Congregational  Churches  united  and  built  their  place 
of  worship  on  the  present  site  of  the  United  Congregational 
Church,  his  bones  were  reverently  disinterred  and  re-buried 


*The  Seventh  Day  Baptist,  in  which  this  address  was  delivered. 


55 

to  the  south  of  the  church,  where  those  interested  may  still 
see  and  decipher  the  following  inscription: 

IN   MEMORY  OF 

SAMUEL  HOPKINS,  D.D. 

Pastor  of  the 

First  Congregational  Church 

in     Newport; 

Who  departed    this  life 

Dec.  20th,  A.  D.  1803; 

In  the  83rd  year  of  his  age; 

Whose  faithful  attention  to  the  duties 

of  his  pastoral  office,  and 

whose  valuable  writings, 

will  recommend  his  character 

when  this  monument, 

erected  by  his  bereaved  flock, 

shall,  with  the  precious  dust  it  covers, 

cease  to  be  distinguished. 

For  the  benefit  of  those  who  may  desire  to  pursue  their 
studies  of  Hopkins  further,  it  is  perhaps  well  to  mention  the 
following  books : 

Autobiography. 

Memoir  of  the  Life  and  Character  of  the 
Rev'd  Samuel  Hopkins,  D.  D. — John  Ferguson, 
(1830.) 

Life  of  Samuel  Hopkins,  by  William  Patten. 

Memoir  of  the  Life  and  Character  of  Hopkins, 
by  Edwards  A.  Park  (1854). 

Essay  on  Hopkins  in  "Old  Portraits"  by  John 
Greenleaf  Whittier  (1847). 

The  Works  of  Samuel  Hopkins,  edited  by 
Park,  1854.    (Three  volumes). 

There  are  many  other  references  to  his  theology,  but 
these  are  the  books  of  greatest  general  interest. 

Samuel  Hopkins,  the  object  of  this  sketch,  was  the  son  of 
Timothy  Hopkins  and  Mary  Judd,  of  Waterbury,  Conn., 
where  he  was  born,  the  eldest  of  a  family  of  5  sons  and  4 


56 

daughters,  on  September  17,  1721.  He  was  born  on  the  Sab- 
bath Day  and  baptized  soon  after  his  birth.  When  his  father 
was  assured  that  his  son  would  live,  he  promised  that  he 
should  be  given  a  college  training  and  fitted  to  be  a  sabbath- 
day  man,  or  minister.  We  know  little  of  his  youth,  beyond 
what  he  tells  us  in  his  Autobiography.  He  did  not  recall 
ever  hearing  a  profane  word  until  he  had  reached  the 
fifteenth  year  of  his  age,  which  is  a  sure  testimony  to  the 
Christian  environment  in  which  his  early  years  were  spent. 
Hopkins  says: 

"I  from  my  youth  was  not  volatile  and  wild, 
but  rather  of  a  sober  and  steady  make,  and  was 
not  guilty  of  external  irregularities,  such  as 
disobedience  to  parents,  profanation  of  the 
sabbath,  lying,  foolish  jesting,  quarrelling,  pas- 
sion and  anger,  or  rash  and  profane  words;  and 
was  disposed  to  be  diligent  and  faithful  in 
whatever  business  I  was  employed." 

He  admits,  however,  that  he  was  generally  careless 
"about  invisible  things  ....  and  sometimes,  though  rarely, 
had  some  serious  thoughts  of  God."  Once  he  had  a  dream 
in  which  he  and  his  brother  two  years  his  junior  were  driven 
down  to  hell  with  the  rest  of  the  wicked,  and  sentenced  to 
everlasting  misery.  "This  greatly  impressed  my  mind,"  says 
Hopkins,  "for  a  long  time  after." 

It  is  unfortunate  that  Hopkins  in  his  autobiography  did 
not  tell  us  more  about  his  youth,  but  he  was  interested  in 
little  beyond  his  religious  experience.  It  seems  inconceiv- 
able that  a  theologian  must  alWays  be  a  theologian  from  his 
cradle,  and  it  would  be  reassuring  to  know  that  Hopkins 
occasionally  played  games  with  his  brothers  and  sisters  and 
shook  with  laughter,  perchance,  upon  the  occasion  of  their 
discomfort.  But  he  lived  in  days  which  are  hard  to  recon- 
struct, in  which  the  children  of  pious  households  were  early 
made  to  realize  the  terror  of  the  Lord,  and  where  the  only 
happiness  recorded  seems  to  have  been  that  of  contem- 
plating the  goodness  of  God  and  the  beauties  of  heaven. 

In  his  Life  of  President  Jonathan  Edwards,  Hopkins 
tells  a  story  which  is  certainly  characteristic  of  the  time. 


57 

When  Jonathan  Edwards  was  a  boy,  he  with  some  other 
lads,  built  a  hut  in  the  swamp  where  they  were  wont  to 
gather  together.  Surely  this  savours  of  perennial  boyhood. 
Some  of  the  gentlemen  here  may,  in  their  youth,  have  had 
some  favorite  resort,  a  hut  or  a  cave,  to  which  they  resorted 
with  their  playmates.  But  it  is  very  doubtful  if  the  purpose 
of  their  juvenile  assembly  was  identical  with  that  of  the 
companions  of  Jonathan  Edwards.  He  and  his  'pals'  went 
out  to  this  swamp-hut  to  pray.  When  we  are  estimating  the 
influences  that  made  the  religious  revival  of  the  early  half 
of  the  eighteenth  century  possible,  let  us  not  forget  this  hut 
in  the  swamp  and  its  purpose.  Samuel  Hopkins  may  not 
have  had  experiences  identical  with  his  friend,  Jonathan, 
but  he  was  brought  up  in  a  very  pious  home  where  he  had 
ample  reason  to  reflect  upon  the  possibilities  of  his  own 
salvation. 

In  1737,  when  he  was  sixteen  years  of  age,  he  was 
admitted  to  Yale  College,  then  under  the  jDresidency  of  Elisha 
Williams.  The  dominant  studies,  non-elective,  were  logic, 
physics,  mathematics,  ethics,  rhetoric  and  theology.  Such 
studies  were  inclined  to  develop  originality  of  thought  rather 
than  felicity  of  expression,*  and  the  intellectual  disciphne  to 
which  Yale  submitted  Hopkins  must  have  contributed 
largely  to  his  fondness  for  abstract  thinking,  but  we  must 
not  forget  that  theologians  are  born,  and  not  made.  They 
are  probably  pre-destined  before  the  foundation  of  the 
world. 

Hopkins  tells  us  that  while  a  member  of  the  college  he 
"had  the  character  of  a  sober,  studious  youth,  and  of  a  better 
scholar  than  the  bigger  half  of  the  members  of  that  society; 
and  had  the  approbation  of  the  governors  of  the  college." 
He  adds:  "I  avoided  the  intimacy  and  the  company  of  the 
openly  vicious;     and  indeed  kept  but  little  company,  being 

♦President  Woolsey  of  Yale  said  in  an  address  delivered  August  14,  1850: 
"The  effect  of  the  modern  system  of  education,  or  of  society,  or  of  both,  is 
to  repress  originality  of  thinking,  to  destroy  individual  peculiarities,  and  to 
produce  in  general  sameness  among  those  whom  it  educates."  (Quoted  by 
Professor  Park  in  the  Memoir  of  Hopkins).  Thus  we  perceive  that  the 
fallacy  of  the  current  educational  theory  endureth  from  generation  to 
generation.  It  could  not  be  said  of  the  curriculum  to  which  Hopkins  was 
submitted  that  it  repressed  originality  of  thinking. 


58 

attentive  to  my  studies."  He  desired  to  be  known  as  a  pious 
youth,  and  sometime  before  1740  he  joined  the  church  at 
Waterbury,  although  he  afterwards  feared  that  he  had  no 
positive  experience  of  saving  grace  at  the  time.  Of  course, 
we  must  remember  that  conversion  was  at  that  time  consid- 
ered to  be  something  catastrophic  and  revolutionary,  as  it  is 
still  considered  by  some,  although  modern  thought  lays 
more  emphasis  upon  the  culture  of  religion  than  upon  con- 
viction of  sin.  In  1740  George  Whitefield  visited  Yale  and 
preached  to  the  people  of  New  Haven.  He  made  a  great  im- 
pression, people  travelling  twenty  miles  to  hear  him.  Most 
of  his  hearers  approved  of  him.  Hopkins,  too,  heard  and 
approved,  although  like  so  many  hearers,  he  seemed  to  apply 
the  judgments  of  the  great  evangelist  to  others  rather  than 
to  himself.  "He  preached  against  mixed  dancing  and  frolic- 
ing  of  males  and  females  together;  which  practice  was  then 
very  common  in  New  England.  This  offended  some,  espe- 
cially young  people.  But  I  remember  I  justified  him  in  this 
in  my  own  mind;  and  in  conversation  with  those  who  were 
disposed  to  condemn  him." 

Early  in  the  next  year,  Gilbert  Tennant  came  to  New 
Haven  from  Boston,  and  preached  there  with  a  "remarkable 
and  mighty  power.  Thousands  were  awakened,  and  many 
cried  out  with  distress  and  horror  of  mind,  under  a  con- 
viction of  God's  anger,  and  their  constant  exposedness  to 
endless  destruction."  The  students  who  were  professing 
Christians  before  they  came  to  college,  such  as  young  David 
Brainerd,  busied  themselves  in  personal  work  among  the 
other  students,  canvassing  thein  in  their  rooms  and  asking 
them  to  accept  Christ  and  His  salvation.  Brainerd  came  to 
visit  Hopkins,  although  Hopkins  was  a  senior  and  Brainerd 
only  a  sophomore;  but  Hopkins  purposely  refused  to  com- 
mit himself.  Nevertheless,  he  was  not  untouched.  In  such 
a  great  revival  of  religious  interest,  men  naturally  take  sides. 
It  is  a  case  of  being  "for"  or  "against",  just  as  we  have 
observed  in  the  recent  Billy  Sunday  phenomenon  in  New 
England,  The  thoughts  of  Hopkins  at  this  time  were  long, 
long  thoughts. 

But  if  Hopkins  had  been  impressed  with  Mr.  Tennant 
and  considered  his  sermons  to  be  "apples  of  gold  in  pictures 


59 

of  silver,"  he  was  more  impressed  with  the  preaching  of  Jon- 
athan Edwards  who  came  to  Yale  in  September  of  1741  and 
spoke  on  "The  Trial  of  Spirits."  He  concluded  that  if  he 
were  to  study  for  the  ministry  he  would  do  so  with  Mr. 
Edwards.  The  character  of  this  great  preacher  and  his  style 
is,  perhaps,  too  well  known  to  deserve  quotation;  never- 
theless, as  it  has  been  said  that  he  is  the  only  American 
worthy  of  comparison  with  Dante*,  two  paragraphs  are  not 
amiss;  one  from  his  private  journal  describes  his  happiness 
in  the  contemplation  of  God: 

"After  this,  my  sense  of  divine  things  grad- 
ually increased,  and  became  more  and  more 
lively,  and  had  more  than  inward  sweetness. 
The  appearance  of  everything  was  altered;  there 
seem'd  to  be  as  it  were  a  calm,  sweet  Cast,  or 
appearance  of  divine  Glory,  in  almost  every- 
thing. God's  excellency.  His  wisdom,  his  purity 
and  love,  seemed  to  appear  in  every  tiling;  in 
the  sun,  moon,  and  stars;  in  the  clouds  and 
blue  sky;  in  the  grass,  flowers  and  trees;  in 
the  water  and  in  all  nature ;  which  used  greatly 
to  fix  my  mind.  I  often  used  to  sit  and  view  the 
moon  for  a  long  time;  and  so  in  the  daytime 
spent  much  time  in  viewing  the  clouds  and  sky, 
to  behold  the  sweet  glory  of  God  in  these  things; 
in  the  meantime,  singing  forth  with  a  low  voice 
my  contemplations  of  the  Creator  and  Re- 
deemer; And  scarce  anything,  among  all  the 
works  of  nature,  was  so  sweet  to  me  as  thunder 
and  lightning;  Formerly  nothing  had  been  so 
terrible  to  me.  I  used  to  be  a  person  uncom- 
monly terrified  with  thunder,  and  it  used  to 
strike  me  with  terror,  when  I  saw  a  thunder 
storm  rising.  But  now,  on  the  contrary,  it  re- 
joyced  me.  I  felt  God  at  the  first  appearance  of 
a  thunder-storm.  And  used  to  take  the  oppor- 
tunity at  such  times,  to  fix  myself  and  view  the 
clouds,  and  see  the  lightnings  play,  and  hear  the 


"A  statement  recently  made  in  Newport  by  Prof.  Bliss  Perry. 


60 

majestick  and  awful  voice  of  God's  thunder; 
which  oftentimes  was  exceeding  entertaining, 
leading  me  to  sweet  contemplation  of  my  great 
and  glorious  God.  And  while  I  viewed,  used  to 
spend  my  time,  as  it  always  seem'd  natural  to 
me,  to  sing  or  chant  forth  iny  meditations;  to 
speak  my  thoughts  in  soliloquies  and  speak 
with  a  singing  voice." 

The  other  quotation  reveals  the  preacher's  power  in  de- 
scribing the  terrors  of  eternal  punishment.  It  is  the  con- 
cluding paragraph  of  the  famous  sermon  on  "Sinners  in  the 
Hand  of  an  Angry  God,"  and  when  this  was  preached  in 
Enfield,  it  is  said  that  some  of  the  hearers  were  so  frightened 
that  they  jumped  out  of  the  window.  Need  one  w^onder? 
Listen : 

"The  God  that  holds  you  over  the  pit  of  hell 
— much  as  one  holds  a  spider  or  some  loath- 
some insect  over  the  fire — abhors  you,  and  is 
dreadfully  provoked.  His  wrath  towards  you 
burns  like  fire;  He  looks  upon  you  as  being 
worthy  of  nothing  else  but  to  be  cast  into  the 
fire.  He  is  of  purer  eyes  than  to  bear  to  have 
you  in  his  sight;  you  are  ten  thousand  times 
more  abominable  in  his  eyes  than  the  most 
hateful  venomous  serpent  is  in  ours.  You  have 
offended  Him  infinitely  more  than  ever  a  stub- 
born rebel  did  his  prince;  and  yet  it  is  nothing 
but  his  hand  that  holds  you  from  falling  into 
the  fire  every  moment.  It  is  to  be  ascribed  to 
nothing  else  that  you  did  not  go  to  hell  the  last 
night;  that  you  was  suffered  to  wake  again  in 
this  world,  after  you  closed  your  eyes  to  sleep. 
And  there  is  no  other  reason  to  be  given  why 
you  have  not  dropped  into  hell  since  you  arose 
in  the  morning,  but  that  God's  hand  has  held 
you  up.  There  is  no  other  reason  to  be  given 
whj^  you  liave  not  gone  to  hell  since  you  have 
sat  here  in  the  house  of  God,  provoking  his  pure 
eyes  by  your  sinful  wicked  manner  of  attending 


61 

his  solemn  worship.  Yea,  there  is  nothing  else 
to  be  given  as  a  reason  why  you  do  not  at  this 
very  moment  drop  into  hell." 

Here,  surely,  is  powerful  preaching.  Here  is  the  per- 
sonal application;  here  the  divine  urgency.  And  when 
Hopkins  had  received  his  diploma  from  Yale  and  had  spent 
a  short  time  at  home  resting,  he  went  to  Northampton  and 
for  four  months  studied  theology  and  the  duties  of  the 
pastoral  office  with  this  mighty  New  England  divine.  Later, 
Hopkins  edited  the  works  of  Edwards  and  wrote  a  memoir 
of  him.     He  was  licensed  to  preach  on  April  29,  1742. 

He  then  received  invitations  to  preach  as  a  candi- 
date for  many  "comfortable"  pulpits,  but  the  first  that  he 
considered  seriously  was  the  parish  at  Great  Barrington,  or, 
as  it  was  known  in  the  days  of  Hopkins,  Housatonick. 
Housatonick  was  then  on  the  verge  of  the  wilderness,  and 
consisted  of  more  sinners  than  saints.  It  was  a  heterogene- 
ous community,  partly  Puritan,  partly  Dutch,  on  the  very 
frontiers  of  the  New  England  settlement,  encircled  by  In- 
dians not  always  friendly  and  settled  by  pioneers  of  the  dare- 
devil type.  It  was  probably  the  last  place  under  God's 
heaven  for  a  man  like  Samuel  Hopkins,  fundamentally  a 
t^tudent  and  a  thinker,  to  go.  He  himself  hesitated  a  long 
time.  In  his  journal  he  wrote:  "The  circumstances  of  this 
place  appear  more  and  more  dreadful  to  me.  There  seems 
to  be  no  religion  here.  If  I  did  not  think  I  had  a  call  here,  I 
should  be  quite  discouraged." 

Though  he  received  an  invitation  to  found  a  church 
there  and  be  its  pastor  and  teacher,  he  was  offered  only  60 
pounds  for  settlement,  and  35  pounds  a  year  with  the  in- 
crease of  20  shillings  a  year  until  the  maximum  of  45  pounds 
a  year  had  been  reached.  He  did  not  see  how  he  could  live 
on  it  and  he  told  them  so,  but  he  felt  that  this  community 
needed  the  Gospel.  It  seemed  that  it  was  his  duty  to  accept 
the  call  and  so  he  expressed  his  willingness  to  remain  there 
on  November  25,  1743.  He  was  ordained  on  the  28th  of  the 
following  month,  and  there  he  remained  and  labored,  "on 
the  edge  of  cultivation"  until  January  18,  1769,  or  for  25 
years  and  21  days. 


62 

He  had  his  own  troubles,for  there  were  few  tangible 
evidences  of  the  results  of  his  ministry.  He  did  succeed  in 
getting  five  men  to  be  tlie  charter  members  of  tlie  church, 
but  he  saw  no  signs  of  any  genuine  conversion  for  seven 
years  when  a  certain  H.D.  showed  symptoms  of  real  religion, 
and  straightway  died.  But  we  must  remember  that  our  the- 
ologian was  very  slow  to  acknowledge  the  genuineness  of 
any  professed  conversion  as  the  following  episode  will 
testify.  The  minister  had  been  summoned  to  the  bedside  of 
a  dying  woman  who  was  "full  of  joy  and  comfort,"  sup- 
posing she  had  saving  discoveries  of  Christ.  "She  admired 
the  goodness  of  God,  and  called  upon  all  to  praise  Him.  Upon 
examining  her,  I  was  satisfied  she  was  deceived;  that  it  was 
only  the  workings  of  her  imagination.  She  was  confident; 
but  I  told  her  my  fears!  How  exposed  to  the  delusions  of 
the  devil  are  ignorant  persons!" 

In  the  light  of  this  passage,  we  may  fairly  assume  that 
Hopkins  would  have  had  more  converts  had  he  lowered  his 
standards.  But  his  rigor,  and  sincerity — in  his  later  years 
he  was  nicknamed  "Old  Sincerity" — made  him  relentless; 
an  opponent  of  the  "Half-way  Covenant,"  so  common  at  the 
time,  he  refused  to  baptize  the  children  of  all  but  the  regen- 
erate; consequently,  a  number  of  the  "unregenerate" 
clubbed  together  and  invited  an  Episcopal  clergyman  to 
come  to  Great  Barrington  and  baptize  their  infants,  which 
he  did.  Henceforth,  Hopkins  found  himself  confronted  not 
only  by  his  theological  opponents  outside  of  Housatonick, 
for  his  views  on  the  half-way  covenant  had  aroused  much 
resentment,  but  also  by  many  in  his  own  jDarish,  especially 
the  Dutchmen  whom  he  could  not  understand,  the  Tories 
whom  he  knew  too  well,  and  the  Episcopalians  whom  he 
loathed.  He  fought  a  good  fight,  but  it  was  too  much  for 
him.  Many  of  his  parishioners  turned  Churchmen,  appar- 
ently, as  Hopkins  said,  "to  get  rid  of  paying  anything  for  the 
support  of  the  gospel."  In  spite  of  their  etforts,  his  church 
could  not  raise  his  salary.  The  Tories  got  control  of  the 
town  meeting,  and  threatened  to  withhold  part  of  his 
salary,  if  not  all.  "If  they  prevail,"  said  Hopkins,  "it  seems 
I  am  done  here.     'The  Lord  reigns!    Let  the  earth  rejoice.'  " 

Hopkins  hesitated  between  staying  on  and  preaching 


63 

the  true  and  "lively"  word  gratuitously,  earning  his  living 
by  farming;  and  leaving  them  for  some  other  parish,  where 
he  could  secure  the  leisure  required  for  his  studies.  Even- 
tually, he  felt  forced  to  resign,  and  on  January  18,  1769,  the 
pastoral  relationship  was  terminated. 

Four  years  after  his  settlement  in  Great  Barrington,  he 
had  married  a  wife,  a  Miss  Joanna  Ingersol,  a  member  of  his 
parish  who,  in  spite  of  consumptive  tendencies,  was  spared 
to  live  with  him  until  her  death  in  August,  1793.  He  had 
been  twice  engaged  before;  but  both  engagements  had  been 
broken  by  the  ladies  in  question,  one  of  them  upon  the 
occasion  of  the  return  to  town  of  a  former  suitor,  when  she 
informed  him  that  "however  much  she  respected  him,  she 
could  not  fulfill  her  engagement  to  him  from  the  heart." 
Let  us  hope  that  even  this  affliction  was  overruled  both 
for  the  good  of  the  lady  and  of  Dr.  Hopkins.  Dr.  Hopkins 
had  eight  children,  three  daughters  and  five  sons.  Upon 
the  death  of  his  wife  in  1793,  he  married  a  Newport  woman* 
who  survived  him. 

During  his  twenty-five  years  in  Housatonick  he  had  not 
only  admitted  to  his  church  116  members,  71  from  the 
world  and  45  from  other  churches,  but  he  had  also  done 
extensive  preaching  among  the  Indians,  through  an  inter- 
preter, and  one  of  his  sermons  to  them  which  has  been 
preserved  was  as  simple  and  free  from  metaphysics  as  most 
of  his  jjublished  discourses  are  abstract.  His  experience 
with  the  Indians  made  him  realize  the  tragedy  of  the  juxta- 
position of  a  superior  and  inferior  race,  and  probably  influ- 
enced him  when  he  proposed  the  transportation  of  blacks  to 
Africa  and  the  establishment  of  colonies  for  them  on  the 
Guinea  coast.     But  to  that  we  must  refer  later. 

Mr.  Hopkins  was  now  without  a  church;  he  was  sug- 
gested for  Old  South  in  Boston,  also  for  Topham,  Me.,  and 
finally,  for  the  First  Church  in  Newport,  then  vacant.  He 
came  to  Newport  to  preach  in  July  of  1769,  and  was  heard 
for  five  Sabbaths.  At  a  meeting  of  the  church  held  in 
August,  a  call  was  extended  to  him,  seven  voting  in  favor  of 
his  coming,  three  against,  and  two  refrained.     Straightway 


*Miss  Elizabeth  West. 


64 

his  theological  enemies  stirred  up  trouble  against  him.  A 
pamphlet  against  him  was  circulated  very  widely.  Letters 
were  sent  to  Dr.  Ezra  Stiles,  then  minister  of  the  Second 
Church,  evidently  inviting  his  intervention  to  prevent  the 
First  Church  from  consummating  the  call.  Two  of  these 
letters  deserve  quotation:  the  first  is  from  Dr.  Chauncy 
Whittelsey  of  New  Haven: 

"New  Haven,  September  17,  1769. 
Reverend  and  Dear  Sir: 

Mr.  Hopkins,  I  think,  expects  to  settle 
among  you.  I  esteem  him  a  man  of  good 
sense,  but  I  don't  at  all  like  the  cast  of  his  divin- 
ity. I  have  read  most  of  his  published  writ- 
ings, and  heretofore  heard  him  converse  some- 
what. His  divinity  does  not  seem  to  be  adapted 
to  the  capacities  of  the  vulgar,  nor  does  it 
appear  to  me  to  give  the  most  honorable  char- 
acter of  that  Being  to  whom  all  honor  is  due. 
His  notions  of  baptism,  if  he  insisted  upon  them, 
would  increase  the  Church  of  England,  or  your 
congregation,  perhaps  both." 

The  other  letter  is  from  Charles  Chauncy,  dated  Boston, 
November  14,  1769: 

"I  am  sorry  with  my  whole  soul  that  Mr. 
Hopkins  is  like  to  settle  in  Newport.  I  have  a 
much  worse  opinion  of  his  principles  than  of 
Sandeman's.  He  is  a  troublesome,  conceited, 
obstinate  man.  He  preached  away  almost  his 
whole  congregation  at  Barrington,  and  was  the 
occasion  of  setting  up  the  Church  of  England 
there.  He  will  preach  away  all  his  congre- 
gation at  Newport,  or  make  them  tenfold  worse 
than  they  are  at  present.  I  wish  his  instalment 
could  be  prevented.  I  can  add  no  more  but 
that  I  am  your  good  friend  and  brother, 

CHARLES  CHAUNCY."* 


"Letters  quoted  in  the  Literary  Diary  of  Dr.  Stiles. 


65 

Whether  or  not  Dr.  Stiles  surreptitiously  endeavored 
to  prevent  his  coming  to  Newport,  the  fact  remains  that  on 
March  12,  1770,  the  church  reconsidered  its  call;  thirty-three 
voted  for  a  call  to  him,  and  36  against.  When  Mr.  Hopkins 
was  apprised  of  their  decision,  he  took  it  with  Christian  forti- 
tude and  charity;  and  stated  that  if  they  were  unable  to 
secure  a  supply  for  the  following  Sunday,  he  would  be  glad 
to  preach  for  them  before  leaving  the  city  permanently.  As 
no  supply  had  been  obtained,  his  offer  was  accepted;  in  the 
course  of  his  sermon  he  greatly  moved  his  people  by  his 
defence  of  his  theological  opinions;  many  were  seen  to 
weep,  and  the  church  again  changed  its  mind  and  asked  him 
to  be  their  minister.  He  accepted  and  was  duly  installed. 
Dr.  Ezra  Stiles  preaching  the  ordination  sermon  on  "Saving 
Knowledge,"*  in  which  the  learned  divine  quoted  Greek  and 
Hebrew  and  Latin  with  ease,  probably  with  considerable 
edification  to  himself,  if  to  no  one  else. 

The  second  church  instructed  their  representatives  at 
the  installing  council  to  ask  Mr.  Hopkins  this  question: 
"Whether  he  considered  it  a  sin  for  the  unregenerate  to  use 
the  means  of  grace."  When  Mr.  Hopkins  said  that  he 
believed  the  unregenerate  ought  to  go  to  church  and  read 
the  Bible  and  engage  in  prayer,  they  were  quite  contented 
and  did  not  stand  longer  in  the  way  of  his  installation.  But 
apparently  his  attitude  on  the  matter  of  infant  baptism  had 
been  interpreted  by  many  as  equivalent  to  a  denial  of  the 
right  of  all  but  the  elect  to  the  means  of  grace. 

The  change  from  the  yeomanry  of  the  Berkshires  to  the 
seafaring  folk  of  Rhode  Island  was  great,  for  Newport  was 
at  this  time  not  only  a  centre  of  wealth  and  commerce,  but 
also  of  culture.  The  census  of  1774  gave  the  population  of 
the  town  at  9,209,  but  this  is  considered  an  underestimation. 
The  population  has  been  estimated  at  11,000.  The  popula- 
tion of  Boston  at  this  time  was  probably  about  16,000,t  and 
that  of  New  York  somewhat  over  21,000.  Thus  it  will  be 
seen  that  Newport  ranked  with  the  first  towns  on  the  conti- 


*This  sermon  was  afterward  published,  and  remains  a  dreadful  warning 
to  those  who  persist  in  carrying  their  lexicons  into  the  pulpit. 

tin  a  Mss.  in  the  possession  of  the  United  Congregational  Church,  Dr. 
Stiles  gives  the  population  of  Boston  in  1752  as  15,684. 


66 

nent.  It  was  noted  not  only  for  its  scenery,  "but  also  for 
the  beauty  of  its  private  residences,  for  its  fashionable  and 
luxurious,  as  well  as  its  intelligent  and  enterprising  society, 
its  culture  of  the  fine  arts,  its  scientific  clubs,  its  refinement 
of  taste  and  manners."  There  was  much  variety  of  religious 
opinion.  Dr.  McSparran  having  said  in  1752  that  "neither 
Epiphanius's  nor  Sir  Richard  Blackmore's  catalogues  con- 
tain more  heterodox  and  different  opinions  in  religion  than 
are  to  be  found  in  this  little  corner."  And  Professor  Park, 
commenting  on  the  settlement  of  Dr.  Hopkins,  asks:  "He 
could  not  harmonize  with  the  Dutch  farmers;  what  will  he 
do  with  the  French  fashions?  He  was  too  severe  for  the 
moderate  Calvinists  of  Connecticut  and  Massachusetts;  will 
he  not  be  a  foreign  element  among  the  formalists  and 
dilettanti  of  Newport?" 

Nevertheless,  he  did.  manage  to  get  along  very  well.  The 
church  grew.  He  gave  it  a  new  impulse  in  many  directions, 
including  new  rules  of  ecclesiastical  order  and  a  new  creed, 
new  arrangements  for  the  care  of  the  poor  and  the  ordering 
of  the  church  music.  His  Thursday  night  lectures  were  well 
attended.  He  would  speak  to  the  young  men  one  week  and 
to  the  young  women  the  next.  The  average  attendance  of 
the  young  men  was  40;  that  of  the  young  women  was  70, 
and  this  endeavor  to  apprise  the  junior  members  of  his 
parish  of  the  fundamentals  of  the  Christian  faith  was  suc- 
cessful, as  there  were  many  applicants  for  church  member- 
ship. It  is  not  impossible  that  there  was  wisdom  in  his 
dividing  the  sexes;  those  who  came  to  these  lectures  did  so 
from  a  sense  of  religious  duty  rather  than  of  social  oppor- 
tunity. 

He  soon  was  able  to  establish  friendly  relations  with  Dr. 
Stiles  of  the  Second  Church  of  whom  Dr.  Channing  said: 
"This  country  has  perhaps  not  produced  a  more  learned 
man."  In  his  diary,  Dr.  Stiles  wrote :  "As  the  providence  of 
God  has  brought  us  into  a  connection,  I  determined  to  learn 
and  gather  all  the  good  1  could  from  him,  treat  him  with  re- 
spect and  benevolence,  and  endeavor  as  far  as  we  agreed  to 
co-operate  with  him  in  building  up  the  Redeemer's  kingdom, 
and  we  lived  together  in  peace  and  love."  Indeed,  when  Dr. 
Hopkins   was    absent.    Dr.    Stiles   occasionally   held   union 


67 

services  and  preached  to  both  congregations.  He  was,  fur- 
ther, a  regular  attendant  at  the  mid-week  lectures.  On  one 
occasion.  Dr.  Hopkins  sutTered  from  a  severe  nosebleed  in 
the  course  of  his  address,  and  as  it  could  not  be  stopped,  he 
asked  Dr.  Stiles  to  continue  the  lecture.  And  it  is  recorded 
that  "furnished  to  all  good  works,  he  took  the  same  text  and 
preached  extemporaneously." 

But  the  day  of  trouble  was  at  hand.  Both  Dr.Stiles  and 
Dr.  Hopkins  were  Whigs  and  in  1776  it  became  advisable  to 
leave  Newport.  Dr.  Stiles  left  in  March  and  later  became 
President  of  Yale.  Dr.  Hopkins  remained  until  December, 
the  month  the  British  troops  arrived  in  Newport,  and  only 
then  did  he  depart.  During  the  next  four  years,  he  preached 
in  Newburyport,  Mass.,  Stamford,  Conn.,  and  other  places 
as  opportunity  otfered,  and  returned  to  Newport  in  the 
spring  of  1780.  He  found  his  parsonage  destroyed,  his 
church  in  a  frightful  condition,  having  been  used  as  a  bar- 
racks and  hospital.  Pulpit  and  pews  were  gone,  together 
with  its  bell,  which  the  British  had  taken  away  with  them 
when  they  evacuated  the  town.  The  windows  were  smashed 
or  lost,  and  the  money  was  not  available  to  make  the  neces- 
sary repairs.  Only  Trinity  Church  escaped  the  ruthless 
behavior  of  the  soldiery.  Dr.  Hopkins  further  found  all 
his  wealthy  families  scattered  or  impoverished,  and  the  situ- 
ation was  dark  for  a  man  sixty  years  of  age.  But  he  did  not 
waver.  He  first  gathered  the  remnant  of  his  parishioners 
around  him  in  a  private  house,  and  then  the  Seventh-Day 
Baptist  Meeting-House  was  used  for  his  services.  For  a  time 
members  of  the  Second  Church  attended  his  services,  but  as 
soon  as  they  could  they  secured  a  pastor  of  their  own. 

Dr.  Hopkins  wrote  to  Boston  and  Newburyport,  seeking 
funds  to  rehabilitate  his  church,  and  to  some  extent  he  was 
successful.  But  receiving  no  salary,  he  was  forced  to  live 
simply  on  what  found  its  way  to  the  collection  plate,  and  the 
frightful  prices  of  the  day  compelled  him,  much  against  his 
will,  to  use  some  of  the  money  he  had  collected  for  repairing 
the  church  to  meet  his  own  needs,  the  church  justifying  him 
in  his  course.  It  was  a  trying  time  for  him,  but  his  brave, 
courageous  spirit  kept  him  up  and  he  stood  by  his  duty  even 
at  great  personal  sacrifice  and  suffering.     The  next  years 


68 

saw  the  writing  and  publication  (in  1794)  of  his  "System  of 
Divinity,"  which  is  his  one  monumental  work  and  for  which 
he  received  the  sum  of  $900.  He  straightway  gave  $100  to  a 
missionary  society  which  he  had  lately  organized. 

But  the  people  were  poor  and,  like  Martha,  anxious  over 
many  things;  and  the  sojourn  of  the  French  troops  had 
leavened  Newport  society  with  the  scepticism  of  the  days  of 
the  great  encyclopaedists.  Dr.  Hopkins  might  give  himself 
to  his  theology  and  to  great  social  reforms,  but  his  church 
existed  at  only  a  poor  dying  rate. 

It  has  been  said  that  Hopkins's  preaching  diminished 
the  congregation.  But  the  fundamental  factor  in  this  unfor- 
tunate diminution  was  the  Revolutionary  war.  True,  he 
was  not  as  distinguished  an  orator  as  he  was  a  theologian. 
He  had  a  fine  presence,  standing  six  feet  in  height,  and  was 
the  personification  of  dignity.  In  fact,  it  is  said  that  when 
Washington  visited  Newport,  and  Hopkins  acted  as  Chaplain 
for  the  da}  the  figure  of  the  theologian  as  he  walked  beside 
the  great  general  was  no  less  imposing  than  that  of  the  dis- 
tinguished visitor.  But  Dr.  Hopkins  was  not  graceful,  and 
had  curious  and  awkward  gestures.  Dr.  Channing  has  said 
that  his  voice  was  like  a  cracked  bell,  but  probably  Chan- 
ning remembered  the  Hopkins  of  his  later  years  when  he  was 
feeble  or  after  he  had  suffered  from  a  stroke.  The  children 
seemed  to  have  been  afraid  of  him,  and  one  of  them,  a  little 
girl  who  cried  because  she  feared  to  go  into  the  church,  ex- 
plained her  distress  thus :  "When  I  look  up  into  the  pulpit,  I 
think  I  see  God  there."  But  in  spite  of  his  dignified  de- 
meanor, Hopkins  had  one  of  the  warmest  hearts  that  ever 
beat. 

The  real  curse  in  his  speaking  was  his  literary  style;  he 
knew  his  own  weaknesses  and  regretted  them,  but  ventured 
the  explanation  that  since  youth  he  had  been  more  intent 
upon  the  discovery  of  truth  than  upon  its  expression. And  his 
explanation  is  probably  true.  Few  men  who  are  felicitous 
in  their  utterances  know  what  they  are  talking  about;  those 
who  know  what  they  are  talking  about  seldom  can  express 
themselvejs.  Moses  had  insight  enough  to  draw  up  a  code  of 
laws  for  Israel,  but  when  he  wanted  to  communicate  with  his 
people,  he  had  to  use  the  voice  of  Aaron.     When  Moses  left 


69 

Aaron  in  charge  of  affairs,  the  people  of  Israel  were  persuad- 
ed by  him  to  build  a  golden  calf.  Herein  is  the  tragedy  of 
the  thinker  who  cannot  speak,  and  the  speaker  who  cannot 
think. 

It  has  been  wrongly  claimed  that  all  Hopkins's  sermons 
were  metaphysical  and  abstract.  Some  of  them  undoubtedly 
were.  But  not  all.  He  was  practical,  and  if  he  alienated 
many  of  his  congregation  from  the  church,  it  was  not  on 
account  of  his  heretical  theology  but  rather  because  of  his 
attacks  on  the  slave  trade,  to  which  we  shall  refer  later.  He 
took  his  preaching  office  most  seriously.  His  sermon  was 
always  completed  by  nine  o'clock  Friday  night.  He  spent 
Saturday  in  prayer  and  communion  with  God,  and  he  went 
into  the  pulpit  on  Sunday  directly  from  his  private  devo- 
tions. Many  of  his  sermons  have  been  printed,  and  that 
which  would  most  appeal  to  his  audience  is  his  "Farewell  to 
the  World,"  delivered  in  1801,  and  being  his  last  sermon  in 
Newport.  After  considering  the  state  of  the  world  in  general 
including  the  Mohammedans  and  the  Jews,  he  turned  to  the 
church  and  its  several  branches,  Greek,  Roman  and  Prot- 
estant, and  assured  his  hearers  that  only  such  as  believed  in 
the  doctrines  of  John  Calvin  should  be  saved!  Then  he 
turned  to  the  state  of  religion  in  New  England,  Rhode  Island 
and  Newport,  and  finally  his  own  church:  and  here  again  I 
crave  your  indulgence  with  a  qucjtation : 

"This  town  has  long  been  noted  for  the 
many  religious  sects  and  denominations  into 
which  the  inhabitants  are  divided,  while  the 
body  of  the  people  have  been  considered,  I 
believe  justly,  to  have  very  little  true  religion, 
if  any;  and  they  have  appeared  more  disso- 
lute, vicious,  erroneous  and  ignorant,  than 
people  in  general  are  in  other  parts  of  New  Eng- 
land. And  there  has  been  no  general  revival 
of  religion,  or  reformation,  to  this  day;  and  the 
state  and  character  of  the  inhabitants  in  general 
has  not  become  better,  but  the  contrary  .... 
A  great  part  of  them  (Newporters)  are  so  inat- 
tentive to  religion,  and  so  ignorant,  that  they 


70 

have  really  no  religious  principles;  others  have 
imbibed,  and  are  strongly  fixed  in,  rehgious 
maxims  and  notions,  as  contrary  to  the  Bible 
as  darkness  is  to  the  light.  Of  those  who  con- 
stantly attend  pubhc  worship,  including  the 
professors  of  religion,  very  few  of  them  main- 
tain any  family  worship  or  religion  and  by  far 
the  greater  part  are  so  immoral  in  their  con- 
duct, or  ignorant  and  erroneous  in  their  notions 
of  religion,  as  to  fall  vastly  short  of  the  Scrip- 
ture character  of  true  Christians  ....  In  this 
dark,  unpleasant  and  melancholy  view  of  the^ 
state  and  character  of  the  body  of  the  inhabi- 
tants of  this  town,  I  must  take  my  leave,  with  a 
painful  prospect  of  the  evil  which  is  coming 
upon  them  and  their  posterity;  which  they 
would  not  believe  were  they  told.  To  most  of 
them  I  cannot  speak,  and  if  I  could,  and  they 
should  know  what  I  think  and  say  of  them,  it 
would  only  serve  to  excite  the  resentment  and 
indignation  of  the  most." 

To  say  the  least,  this  is  direct  preaching,  but  it  is  not  of  a 
kind  disposed  to  increase  one's  popularity! 

But  his  great  work  was  that  of  a  theologian,  and  most  of 
his  writings  were  concerned  with  the  justification  of  the 
strange  ways  of  God  with  men.  Into  these  writings  we  could 
not  go  if  we  would.  But  they  furnished  the  material  for  the 
great  theological  arguments  of  the  last  half  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century  and  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth.  Hopkins- 
ianism  was  a  mighty  system,  a  mixture  of  Calvinism  and 
Arminianism.  It  would  not  interest  maay  of  us  today  except 
those  who  study  it  for  the  history  of  theological  thought. 
Nevertheless  it  once  was  vital  and  generally  discussed. 
Among  the  names  of  the  original  subscribers  to  his  System  of 
Divinity  are  those  of  certain  colored  folk,  to  wit,  Congo 
Jenkins  and  Zingo  Stevens  and  Nimble  Nightingale! 
Whether  they  read  the  books  or  not,  is  another  matter. 

The    doctrines   which    distinguished    this    system   from 


71 

orthodox  Calvinism  were  those  concerning  the  nature  of 
hohness,  and  the  reward  of  holiness.  Hopkins'  idea  was 
summed  up  in  the  phrase  "disinterested  benevolence."  Sin, 
said  Hopkins,  is  selfishness  and  to  acquire  holiness  one  must 
absolutely  forget  self;  and  think  only  in  terms  of  the  great- 
est good  to  Being  in  general.  We  should  live  benevolently 
for  God  and  for  our  fellow-men,  with  absolutely  no  anxiety 
concerning  what  joy  or  happiness  our  conduct  would  bring 
us  in  this  life,  or  in  the  life  to  come.  The  true  believer  must 
do  his  duty  and  act  for  the  glory  of  God.  He  must  be  willing 
to  do  so,  even  if  he  be  damned  for  it.  His  benevolence  must 
be  absolutely  disinterested.  A  certain  divine*  has  summed 
up  the  attitude  of  various  theologies  towards  this  matter  as 
follows : 

Calvinism.  "Love  to  God  does  not  require  in  any  one, 
under  any  circumstances,  a  willingness  to  be  damned  but  the 
contrary." 

Hopkinsianism.  "No  man  truly  loves  God  or  his  neigh- 
bor, who  is  not  willing  to  be  damned  for  a  greater  good  than 
his  personal  salvation." 

Universalism.  "No  man  will  be  damned,  and  therefore 
no  man  should  be  willing  to  be  damned." 

Arminianism.  "No  man  ever  was  willing,  while  in  the 
exercise  of  love  of  God,  to  be  accursed  from  him,  for  any 
cause." 

Arianism.  "No  man  who  loves  God  can  be  willing  to 
be  damned  for  any  cause." 

Sabellianism.     "Some  say  one  thing  and  some  another." 

Socinianism.  "Love  to  God  never  can  imply  a  willing- 
ness to  be  damned." 

.  Deist.  "The  Deists  are  so  scriptural  as  to  believe  that 
no  man  ever  hated  his  own  flesh,  and  much  less  his  soul, 
if  he  has  a  soul." 

All  of  which  is  very  interesting.  We  shall  dismiss  the 
theological  system  with  these  words,  that  his  was  a  robust 
and  heroic  faith,  and  he  himself  was  the  incarnation  of  the 
theory  of    disinterested    benevolence.     Much    that    is    said 


*Ezra  Stiles  Ely. 


72 

against  his  theology  is  without  any  foundation,  and  he  has 
been  condemned  for  saying  and  holding  theories  he  never 
held.  But  his  doctrine  of  disinterested  benevolence  not  only 
aroused  the  admiration  of  men  like  Channing  and  Whittier, 
but  many  liberal  theologians  declare  today  that  his  position 
was  one  of  the  most  valuable  contributions  to  theology  ever 
made.  It  became  common  to  put  to  all  candidates  for  the 
Congregational  ministry  the  query :  "Are  you  willing  to  be 
damned  for  the  glory  of  God?"  until  one  of  them  in  the 
middle  of  the  last  century  broke  the  spell  by  answering: 
"No,  I'm  not,  but  I'm  quite  willing  that  the  questioner  be 
damned  if  it  will  serve  God's  glory." 

I  have  purposely  reserved  what  may  be  the  most  sig- 
nificant contribution  of  Samuel  Hopkins  until  the  last;  and 
that  is,  his  activity  on  behalf  of  the  slave.  In  Great  Barring- 
ton,  as  we  have  pointed  out,  Hopkins  had  observed  the  influ- 
ence of  the  whites  upon  the  Indians.  But  he  had  thought 
but  little  about  the  condition  of  the  negroes.  He  owned  a 
slave  himself,  who  had  been  sold  before  he  came  to  Newport. 
But  he  had  not  been  in  Newport  long  until  he  was  forced  to 
confront  the  slave  trade  in  all  its  heinousness.  Newport  was 
one  of  the  foremost  slave  markets,  then  and  for  many  sub- 
sequent years.  For  instance,  between  the  years  1804  and 
1808,  when  Newport  had  declined,  Rhode  Island  owned  59  of 
the  slavers  carrying  negroes  into  Charleston,  South  Caro- 
lina. In  that  time,  17,048  slaves  were  brought  into  the  port. 
Of  these  6,238  came  in  boats  owned  in  Rhode  Island  and 
3,488,  or  more  than  one-fifth,  in  boats  owned  in  Newport.* 
These  figures  will  make  the  local  situation  very  vivid. 
Hopkins  saw  the  slaves  in  the  slave  market  here,  and  he  felt 
the  inhumanity  of  this  bargaining  in  human  flesh.  He  de- 
cided to  speak  against  the  whole  business,  although  practi- 
cally no  one  had  ever  before  lifted  up  his  voice  from  a 
Christian  pulpit  with  such  a  plea.  He  knew  that  he  might 
arouse  the  antagonism  of  his  parish,  but  with  disinterested 
benevolence,  he  made  his  decision,  and  one  Sunday 
morning  he  spoke  his  mind.  As  Whittier  said:"It  well  may 
be  doubted,  whether,  on  the  Sabbath  day,  the  angels  of  God, 
in  their  wide  survey  of  his  universe,  looked  upon  a  nobler 


*Quoted  in  Park's  Memoir. 


73 

spectacle  than  that  of  the  minister  of  Newport,  rising  up 
before  his  slave-holding  congregation,  and  demanding,  in  the 
name  of  the  Highest,  the  'deliverance  of  the  captive,  and  the 
opening  of  prison  doors  to  them  that  were  bound.' " 
Whether  his  discourse  was  responsible  for  the  measure  or 
not,  in  June,  1774,  the  State  of  Rhode  Island  prohibited  the 
further  importation  of  slaves  into  this  State. 

But  he  did  not  stop  with  a  sermon.  He  wrote  a  dialogue 
which  was  published  in  1776,  the  year  of  the  war.  He  felt 
that  at  a  time  when  these  colonies  were  struggling  for  their 
own  liberty,  they  would  hearken  more  readily  to  an  appeal 
for  liberty  on  the  part  of  those  whom  they  themselves  were 
oppressing.  While  many  were  at  the  time  opposed  to  the 
slave-trade  and  slave-holding,  no  "other  man  had  prior  to 
1776  written  on  the  theme  so  forcibly  and  fundamentally." 
This  dialogue  was  afterward  reprinted  in  1785  by  the  New 
York  Manumission  Society  of  which  John  Jay  was  president 
and  Alexander  Hamilton  a  member,  and  was  widely  and 
powerfully  used  by  the  various  abolition  societies  which 
were  rapidly  springing  up.  Hopkins  was  made  an  honorary 
member  of  this  society,  and  also  of  the  society  of  which 
Benjamin  Franklin  was  president.  Not  only  did  he  preach 
against  the  slave-trade,  but  he  succeeded  in  1784  in  having 
his  church  vote  as  follows:  "That  the  slave  trade  and  the 
slavery  of  the  Africans  as  it  has  taken  place  among  us  is  a 
gross  violation  of  the  righteousness  and  benevolence  which 
are  so  much  inculcated  in  the  gospel,  and  therefore  we  will 
not  tolerate  it  in  this  church."  True  the  Quakers  had 
adopted  similar  views  before,  but  the  action  of  the  First 
Congregational  Church  is  a  most  significant  item  in  the 
progress  of  the  anti-slavery  movement.  He  also  used  the 
press  freely,  furnishing  anti-slavery  items  to  the  editor  of 
the  Newport  Mercury  who,  with  fear  and  trembling  and  in 
face  of  the  threats  of  his  slave-holding  subscribers,  put  as 
many  as  he  dared  into  his  paper.  He  w^ote  to  Moses  Brown, 
to  the  English  abolitionists,  and  tirelessly  and  wisely  he 
labored  for  this  great  cause.  He  is  one  of  the  great  pioneers 
in  the  abolition  movement,  and  Newport  should  be  proud  of 
him. 

But  he  was  no  mere  sentimentalist.     He  realized  just 


74 

what  the  continuance  of  the  tratlick  would  mean.He  feared 
that  it  might  lead  some  time  to  Civil  war,  and  he  says  so  in  a 
letter  dated  1788.  He  also  recognized  the  fact  that  the  task 
of  assimilating  the  blacks  would  be  a  great  one,  and  conse- 
quently he  proposed  the  formation  of  colonies  on  the  Guinea 
coast  where  blacks  who  had  been  cruelly  torn  from  their 
native  land  by  the  traders  might  be  returned  after  having 
enjoyed  some  of  the  civilizing  influences  of  this  country. 
The  scheme  was  partly  missionary,  and  on  that  score 
aroused  the  fear  of  his  theological  opponents  who  thought 
it  might  be  better  to  leave  the  Africans  in  their  paganism, 
rather  than  convert  them  to  the  Hopkinsian  theology,  but 
it  was  far  more  than  missionary  in  its  nature.  It  was  put 
forth  with  a  statesmanlike  understanding  of  the  situation: 
as  the  following  paragraph  from  one  of  his  statements  will 
make  clear: 

"This  appears  to  be  the  best  and  only  plan 
to  make  the  blacks  among  us  in  the  most  agree- 
able situation  for  themselves  and  to  render 
them  most  useful  to  their  brethren  in  Africa,  by 
civilizing  them  and  teaching  them  how  to  culti- 
vate their  lands  and  spreading  the  knowledge 
of  the  Christian  religion  among  them.  The 
whites  are  so  habituated  by  education  and  cus- 
tom to  look  upon  and  treat  the  blacks  as  an 
inferior  class  of  beings,  and  they  are  so  low  by 
their  situation  and  the  treatment  they  receive 
from  us  that  they  never  can  be  raised  to  an 
equality  with  the  whites  and  enjoy  all  the 
liberty  and  rights  to  which  they  have  a  just 
claim,  or  have  all  the  encouragements  and  mo- 
tives to  make  improvements  of  every  kind, 
which  are  desirable.  But  if  they  were  removed 
to  Africa  this  evil  would  cease  and  they  would 
enjoy  all  desirable  equality  and  liberty;  and 
live  in  a  climate  which  is  peculiarly  suitable  to 
their  constitution.  And  th^y  would  be  under 
advantages  to  set  an  example  of  industry  and 
the   best   manner   of   cultivating    the    land,    of 


75 

civil     life,     of    morality     and    religion,  which 
would  tend  to  gain  the  attention  of  the  inhabi- 
tants  of   that   country   and   persuade   them    to 
receive    instruction    and    embrace    the    gospel. 
.    .    .    .These  United  States  are  able  to  be  at 
the  expense  of  prosecuting  such  a  plan,  at  which 
these  hints  are  soine  of  the  outlines.  .  And  is  not 
this  the  best  way  that  can  be  taken  to  compen- 
sate the  blacks  both  in  America  and  in  Africa 
for  the  injuries  they  have  received  by  the  slave 
trade  and  slavery;     and  that  which  righteous- 
ness and  benevolence  must  dictate?     And  even 
selfishness  will  be  pleased  with  such  a  plan  as 
this,    and   excite   to    exertion   to   carry   it   into 
effect,  when  the  advantages  of  it  to  the  public 
and    to    individuals    are   well    considered    and 
realized.     This  will  gradually  draw  off  all  the 
blacks  in  New  England,  and  even  in  the  Middle 
and  Southern  states  as  fast  as  they  can  be  set 
free,  by  which  this  nation  shall  be  delivered 
from  that  which,  in  the  view  of  every  discerning 
man,  is  a  great  calamity  and  inconsistent  with 
the  good  of  society;  and  is  now  really  a  great  in- 
jury to  most  of  the  white  inhabitants,  especially 
in  the  southern  states."     (1793). 

Hopkins  did  not  have  good  luck  with  his  ventures, 
although  he  did  raise  funds  to  train  two  colored  men  for 
work  in  Africa.  They  w^ere  old  men  when  they  sailed  and 
they  both  died  within  six  months  of  their  arrival  in  Sierra 
Leone.  Though  his  scheme  came  to  naught,  must  we  not 
say  that  Dr.  Hopkins  was  far  ahead  of  his  day,  and  had  his 
advice  been  taken,  America  might  have  been  saved  the 
horror  of  the  civil  war,  and  the  unsolved  negro  problem  of 
today? 

It  should  also  be  added  that  in  forming  the  society  to 
raise  funds  for  the  education  of  colored  men  intending  to  go 
to  Africa  as  missionaries,  Samuel  Hopkins  founded  what  is 
probably  the  first  foreign  missionary  society  in  America,  an- 
tedating the  American  Board  by  43  years,  as  Rev.  T.  C.  Mc- 


76 

Clellan  some  years  ago  pointed  out.  This,  surely,  is  addi- 
tional reason  for  attaching  significance  to  the  work  of  Sam- 
uel Hopkins. 

Such  a  man  was  Samuel  Hopkins,  preacher,  theologian 
and  reformer,  who  for  more  than  thirty-three  years  claimed 
Newport  as  his  home.  He  may  have  lacked  a  sense  of 
humour,  and  some  portions  of  his  theology  may  make 
impossible  reading,  but  history  has  few  more  radiant  exam- 
ples of  disinterested  benevolence.  Systematic  in  his  thought, 
he  was  systematic  in  his  life.  He  rose  at  four  every 
morning  and  studied  until  breakfast;  then,  after  making 
the  necessary  purchases,  retired  to  his  study,  where  he  spent 
most  of  the  day  and  evening  until  nine  o'clock,  when  he  had 
family  prayers;  and  at  ten  he  went  to  bed.  Modest  con- 
cerning himself  and  his  own  powers,  almost  despondent  in 
his  humility,  nevertheless  he  was  as  a  defenced  city  against 
those  who  tried  to  make  breaches  in  his  theology  or  cham- 
pioned unrighteousness.  His  life  is  a  glorious  example  of 
the  consecration  and  endurance  of  which  the  Puritan  spirit 
was  capable,  and  of  which  this  nation  may  ever  be  proud 
and  shall  ever  stand  in  need.  As  Newporters,  we  should 
know  more  of  him,  seek  to  preserve  the  edifices  associated 
with  his  name,  and  above  all  retain  in  our  devotion  to  high 
ideals  of  piety  and  service,  something  of  his  incomparable 
spirit.     As  the  gentle-souled  Whittier  once  wrote : 

"  We  need,  methinks,  the  prophet-hero  still 
Saints  true  of  life,  and  martyrs  strong  of  will. 
To  tread  the  land,  even  now,  as  Xavier  trod 
The  streets  of  Goa,  barefoot,  with  his  bell 
Proclaiming  freedom  in  the  name  of  God, 
And  startling  tyrants  with  the  fear  of  hell. 
Soft  words,  smooth  prophecies,  are  doubtless  well 
But  to  rebuke  the  age's  popular  crime. 
We  need  the  souls  of  fire,  the  hearts  of  that 
old  time."* 


■"Men  of  Old." 


Very  Rev. 
Dean  George  Berkeley,  D.D. 


A  Paper  read  before  the  Newport  Historical  Society 
March   6th,  1917 


By 
Rev.  STANLEY   G.  HUGHES 


BISHOP    BERKELEY 

Among  the  eminent  divines  who  elevated  and  enriched 
greater  influence  on  his  friends  and  contemporaries,  or 
posesses  greater  charm  for  the  reader  of  today,  than  George 
Berkeley;  Doctor  in  Divinity,  Dignitary  of  the  English 
Church,  Wit,  Philosopher,  Poet  and  Missionary.  He  landed 
on  our  shores  in  January,  1729,  covered  with  laurels  won  in 
the  old  world  and  burning  with  enthusiasm  for  a  high  enter- 
prise to  be  carried  forward  in  the  new.  He  departed,  sailing 
from  Boston  in  the  autumn  of  1731,  a  disappointed  and  a 
broken  man,  his  plans  thwarted  and  his  hopes  dashed  to  the 
ground. 

Of  the  man  himself,  the  figure  he  made  in  the  world, 
the  philanthropic  enterprise  he  cherished  and  which  led  him 
to  come  to  America,  his  life  in  Newport  and  the  causes  of 
his  failure  and  retirement  to  his  native  land,  I  will  try  to  tell 
you  in  a  few  paragraphs,  necessarily  somewhat  fragmentary. 
For  those  who  care  to  know  more,  an  ample  supply  of 
information  coupled  with  entertainment  and  edification  will 
be  found  in  the  four  volumes  of  his  life  and  works  by  Alex- 
ander Campbell  Frazer,  one  of  the  best  of  biographers. 

George  Berkeley,  son  of  William,  an  English  royalist, 
was  born  in  Ireland  at  Kilcrin,  near  Thomastown  on  March 
12th,  1684.  He  was  sent  first  to  the  famous  Kilkenny  School, 
founded  by  His  Grace  the  Duke  of  Ormonde,  where  also 
Dean  Swift  and  Thomas  Prior  were  pupils,  and  then  to 
Trinity  College,  Dublin.  The  troubled  reigns  of  the  Stuarts 
were  drawing  to  a  close.  England  was  full  of  turmoil. 
Many  cavalier  families,  like  those  of  Swift  and  Berkeley,  had 
taken  refuge  in  Ireland;  and  academic  instruction  was  per- 
haps never  on  a  higher  plane  than  in  those  days.  Though  an 
Irish  school,  I  fancy,  is  never  a  poor  place  for  the  sharpening 
of  the  wits.  An  Irish  friend  of  mine  was  classmate  in  such  a 
school  of  the  late  Father  Tyrrell,  author  of  "Christianity  at 
the  Cross  Roads."  He  tells  how^  they  were  one  day  constru- 
ing Latin.     Tyrrell  came  to  the  word  "penna;"  he  translated 


80 

it  "wings."  "Wrong,"  said  the  master.  "The  word  is  singu- 
lar number,  a  wing."  "Oh!"  said  Tyrrell,  "that  is  merely  a 
difference  of  a  pinion." 

The  Provost  of  Trinity  College  when  Berkeley  matricu- 
lated in  1700  was  Dr.  Peter  Browne,  a  prominent  writer  on 
Philosophic  themes.  His  tutor  was  Dr.  John  Hall,  a  learned 
and  diligent  teacher.  Twenty  miles  away  lived  Swift,  at 
Laracor,  whence  he  was  transferred  to  be  Dean  of  St.  Pat- 
rick's in  1713.  In  1705  Berkeley  and  a  group  of  his  friends 
formed  a  Society  to  study  the  philosophy  of  Boyle,  Newton 
and  Locke.  Among  its  rules  was  one  that  the  conference 
begin  at  three  in  the  afternoon  on  Friday  and  continue  till 
eight.  Another  ran :  Whoever  leaves  the  assembly  before 
it's  broken  up,  pay  threepence.  Evidently  these  young 
philosophers  were  bound  to  get  at  the  bottom  of  things. 

In  1709  Berkeley  was  ordained  Deacon  and  published 
his  first  philosophic  work.  A  second  work  appeared  in  1710. 
In  1712,  aged  28,  he  went  to  London;  where  he  was  presented 
at  Court  by  his  friend.  Dean  Swift,  the  following  year  and 
instantly  won  popularity  and  distinction  both  by  his  conver- 
sation and  his  published  works.  It  is  said  that  he  was  so 
greatly  in  demand  for  week-end  parties  at  country  houses 
that  he  was  once  entrapped  and  compelled  by  main  force  to 
stay  over  Sunday.  He  was  a  friend  of  Steele  and  a  frequent 
contributor  to  the  Guardian;  and  on  the  first  night  of  Addi- 
son's Cato  he  was  with  the  author  in  his  box.  Pope's 
friendly  description  of  him  was:  "To  Berkeley  every  virtue 
under  heaven."  Barely,  I  suppose,  has  there  lived  a  man 
before  whoin  the  paths  of  worldly  success  and  ecclesiastical 
promotion  stood  more  widely  open.  What  was  it,  then,  that 
proved  so  attractive  in  this  American  Cathay  as  to  draw  him 
away  from  his  assured  fifty  years  of  Europe  at  its  best? 
"What  did  he  promise  himself  as  the  reward  of  so  much 
;sacrifice?  It  was  the  hope  of  founding  a  college  in  the 
Summer  or  Bermuda  Islands  for  the  education  of  the  youth 
of  the  various  American  colonies;  a  Christian  college  in 
which  priests  and  prophets  of  the  Church  might  be  raised  up 
who  should  in  turn  go  out  into  the  wilderness  and  promul- 
gate the  Christian  faith  among  the  savages  of  the  Continent. 
Berkeley  was  not  blind  to  the  vices  of  his  age.     He  saw 


81 

through  the  veneer  of  fashionable  society  and  was  appalled 
by  the  corruption  that  lay  underneath.  He  knew  the  Court 
well  and  was  often  sent  for  to  hold  theological  debates  with 
Dr.  Clarke  for  the  edification  of  the  Queen.  He  had  travelled 
over  the  Continent  and  in  Rome  also.  His  deliberate  con- 
viction was  that  Europe  was  utterly  debased  and  the  only 
hope  for  a  pure  and  upright  society  lay  in  the  unspoiled 
people  of  the  new  world.  It  was  this  sentiment  which 
inspired  his  familiar  verse : 

The  muse  disgusted  at  our  age  and  clime 

Barren  of  every  glorious  theme. 
In  distant  lands  now  waits  a  better  time 

Producing  subjects  worthy  fame. 

In  happy  climes,  the  seat  of  innocence, 

Where  nature  guides  and  virtue  rules 
Where  men  shall  not  impose  for  truth  and  sense 

The  pedantry  of  courts  and  schools; 

Not  such  as  Europe  breeds  in  her  decay  : 

Such  as  she  bred  when  fresh  and  young. 

When  heavenly  flame  did  animate  her  clay, 
By  future  poets  shall  be  sung. 

Westward  the  course  of  empire  takes  its  way, 

The  four  first  acts  already  past. 
A  fifth  shall  close  the  drama  with  the  day; 
Time's  noblest  offspring  is  the  last. 

The  thought  of  reforming  education  for  the  good  of 
mankind  has  always  charmed  and  fascinated  men  of  great 
character  and  intellect.  Berkeley  was  obsessed  by  it  for 
years  before  he  came  to  America.  In  1723  he  wrote:  "It  is 
now  about  ten  months  since  I  have  determined  to  spend  the 
residue  of  my  days  in  Bermuda,  where,  I  trust  in  Providence, 
I  may  be  the  mean  instrument  of  doing  great  good  to  man- 
kind." How  quickly  the  fire  of  his  enthusiasm  caught  in 
other  breasts  may  be  judged  from  a  letter  of  Dean  Swift  to 
Lord  Cartaret  September  3,  1724:  "There  is  a  gentleman  of 
this  kingdom  just  gone  for  England.  It  is  Dr.  George  Berke- 
ley, Dean  of  Derry,  the  best  preferment  among  us 

he  is  an  absolute  philosopher  in  regard  to  money,  titles  and 
power;  and  for  three  years  past  has  been  struck  with  the 
notion  of  founding  a  university  at  Bermudas,  by  a  charter 


82 

from  the  Crown.  He  has  seduced  several  of  the  hopefuliest 
young  clergymen  and  others  here  .  .  all  in  the  fairest  way 
of  preferment,  but  in  England  his  conquests  are  greater  and 
I  doubt  will  spread  very  far  this  winter  ....  His  heart 
will  break  if  his  Deanery  be  not  taken  from  him  and  left  to 
your  excellency's  disposal."  Cartaret  was  Lord  Lieutenant 
of  Ireland. 

Armed  with  this  letter  of  introduction  to  the  Lord  Lieu- 
tenant and  with  many  powerful  friends  already  enlisted  in 
his  favor,  Berkeley  set  out  for  London  to  launch  his  project. 

A  few^  sentences  may  be  quoted  from  his  printed  Pro- 
posal by  way  of  making  clear  the  design  he  had  at  heart. 
"Although  there  are  several  excellent  persons  of  the  Church 
of  England  whose  good  intentions  have  not  been  wanting  to 
propagate  the  Gospel  in  foreign  parts,  who  have  even  com- 
bined into  societies  for  that  very  purpose  .  .  .  .  it  is  never- 
theless acknowledged  that  there  is  at  this  day  but  little 
sense  of  religion  and  a  most  notorious  corruption  of  manners 
in  the  English  Colonies  settled  on  the  Continent  of  America, 
and  the  Islands.  It  is  also  acknowledged  that  the  Gospel 
hath  hitherto  made  but  a  very  inconsiderable  progress 
among  the  neighboring  Americans  who  still  continue  in 
much  the  same  ignorance  and  barbarism  in  which  we  found 

them  above  a  hundred  years  ago for  the  remedy  of 

these  evils  it  should  seem  the  proper  method  to  provide,  in 
the  first  place,  a  constant  supply  of  worthy  clergymen  for 
the  English  churches;  and,  in  the  second  place,  a  like  con- 
stant supply  of  zealous  missionaries  well  fitted  for  propa- 
gating Christianity  among  the  savages.  .  .  Now  the  clergy 
sent  over  to  America  have  proved,  too  many  of  them,  very 
meanly  qualified,  both  in  learning  and  morals  for  the 
discharge  of  their  office.  .  .  .  These  considerations  make 
it  evident  that  a  College  or  Seminary  in  those  parts  is  very 
much  wanted;  and  .  .  .  the  providing  such  a  Seminary  is 
earnestly  proposed  and  recommended  to  all  those  who  have 
it  in  their  power  to  contribute  to  so  good  a  work." 

The  Proposal  goes  on  to  discuss  the  proper  situation  for 
the  College  and  fixes  on  the  Island  of  Bermuda  for  a  number 
of  reasons.  First :  for  its  excellent  climate.  Second :  because 
it  is  remote  from  the  mainland  with  its  temptations   and 


83 

distractions.  Third :  for  the  reason  that  it  is  readily  acces- 
sible from  all  parts  of  America,  and  can  thus  draw  both 
whites  and  savages  from  the  various  colonies. 

To  us,  today,  Bermuda  may  seem  too  remote.  But  we 
must  remember  that  when  Berkeley  gave  his  mind  to  the 
study  of  the  situation,  America  w^as  a  strip  of  colonies  lying 
along  the  Atlantic  seaboard.  There  was  nothing  back  of  it. 
All  commerce  and  intercourse  was  necessarily  by  water.  It 
was  not  till  1776,  the  year  in  which  Adam  Smith's  Wealth 
of  Nations  appeared,  that  James  Watts  constructed  the  first 
steam  engine  at  Birmingham.  Our  continent  is  now  cov- 
ered with  railways,  then  as  undreamed  of  as  automobiles 
or  aeroplanes.  Had  the  College  been  built  and  endowed, 
supplied  with  food  from  the  farm  lands  of  Newport  which 
Berkeley  purchased  for  that  purpose,  and  had  steam  locomo- 
tion not  been  discovered,  there  is  no  good  reason  why  it 
might  not  have  proved,  if  not  all  that  its  originator  dreamed, 
yet  one  of  the  most  beneficent  Christian  enterprises  ever 
established  in  the  Colonies.  With  twentieth  century 
America  stretching  over  the  continent  we  feel  the  Bermuda 
scheme  impracticable.  So,  no  doubt,  did  a  great  many  in 
Berkeley's  own  day.  But  such  was  the  young  Irishman's 
earnestness  and  eloquence,  such  his  complete  absorption  in 
his  generous  and  philanthropic  enterprise,  that  he  bore  down 
all  opposition  and  won  the  moral  and  financial  support  even 
of  the  indifferent  and  hostile. 

He  had  come  by  a  small  private  fortune  in  a  most  extra- 
ordinary fashion.  On  one  occasion  Dean  Swdft  took  him  to 
dine  with  Mrs.  Vanhomrigh,  whose  daughter  Esther  was  the 
Vanessa  referred  to  in  Swift's  Journal  to  Stella.  It  seems 
probable  that  the  lady  never  saw  him  again.  But  when  she 
died,  in  the  year  1723,  it  was  found  that  she  had  left  him  the 
sum  of  £4000  in  her  wdll.  With  this  assured  capital  in  hand, 
sent,  it  seemed,  by  Providence,  he  felt  himself  ready  to  enter 
on  his  great  work  and  began  to  solicit  subscriptions  and  to 
beseige  the  Court  for  a  charter  for  the  College  of  St.  Paul  in 
Bermuda.  An  incident  in  his  campaign  is  related  by  War- 
ton.  Lord  Bathurst  told  him  that  all  the  members  of  the 
Scriblers'  Club  being  met  at  his  house  at  dinner,  they 
agreed  to  rally  Berkeley,  who  was  also  his  guest,  on  his 


84 

scheme  at  Bermudas.  Berkeley  having  listened  to  all  the 
lively  things  they  had  to  say,  begged  to  be  heard  in  his  turn; 
and  displayed  his  plan  with  such  astonishing  and  animating 
force  of  eloquence  and  enthusiasm,  that  they  were  struck 
dumb  and  after  some  pause  rose  up  all  together  with  ear- 
nestness exclaiming — "Let  us  all  set  out  with  him  immedi- 
ately." Nor  was  the  zest  transient.  He  persuaded  many  to 
help  him.  More  than  five  thousand  pounds  was  raised — a 
large  sum  for  those  days — which  might  have  been  largely 
increased  if  the  author  of  the  Proposal  had  continued  to  rely 
on  the  good  will  of  private  persons. 

By  some  means  he  won  the  ear  of  George  I  and  the 
consent,  if  not  the  approval,  of  Sir  Robert  Walpole,  the 
Prime  Minister,  then  all  powerful,  whose  name  appears  in 
the  list  of  subscribers  opposite  the  sum  of  £200.  A  royal 
charter  was  soon  forthcoming,  and  with  it  a  grant  of  £20,000 
from  the  sale  of  lands  in  the  newly  ceded  island  of  St.  Chris- 
tophers, approved  by  the  House  of  Commons. 

When  one  remembers  the  low^  estate  of  religion  in  Eng- 
land in  the  18th  Century,  such  a  conquest  of  the  Court  and 
Court  circles  can  be  regarded  as  little  less  than  miraculous. 
These  were  the  days  when  favorites  were  promoted  to  high 
places  in  the  Church  as  in  the  State;  when  Rectors,  Deans, 
Prebendaries  and  even  Bishops  drew  their  salaries  while 
never  or  rarely  visiting  their  sees  or  parishs;  when  earnest 
men  like  Whitfield  and  Wesley  and  Fox  were  driven  to  find 
spiritual  nourishment  outside  the  Church,  not  willingly,  but 
reluctantly,  in  very  desperation.  Even  the  most  sincere  and 
religious  seem  to  have  looked  on  the  set  services  of  the 
Church  as  rather  cold  formalities.  The  Earl  of  Egmont,  for 
example,  a  stout  supporter  of  the  Church  and  a  warm  friend 
of  Berkeley,  has  this  to  tell  of  a  religious  service,  in  his 
memoirs.  "Sunday,  Feb.  27,  1732.  After  dinner  I  went  to 
the  Kings'  Chapel  where  I  expected  to  meet  the  Bishop  of 
Salisbury,  brother  to  the  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  and  resolved 
to  show  my  resentment  at  the  usage  given  Dean  Berkeley. 
Dean  Berkeley  went  to  the  chapel  and  sat  over  against  us. 
I  said  to  the  Bishop :  'Yonder  is  one  of  the  worthiest,  most 
learned  men  in  the  three  kingdoms  who  has  met  with  the 
wretchedest  usage  ever  was  heard  of.'  "     Then  follows   a 


85 

long  debate  and  a  rather  warm  one  between  the  Earl  and 
the  Bishop.  "This  discourse  between  us,"  he  adds,  "was 
while  the  lessons  were  reading."  Even  the  King's  custom 
of  sleeping  through  the  services  was  not  much  worse  than 
this. 

Thackeray  has  pictured  the  depraved  court  of  George  II 
in  imperishable  prose.  "Show  me  some  good  person  about 
that  Court;  find  me  among  these  selfish  courtiers,  these 
dissolute,  gay  people  some  one  being  that  I  can  love  and 
regard.  There  is  that  strutting  little  Sultan,  George  II; 
there  is  that  humpbacked,  beetle-browed  Lord  Chesterfield; 
there  is  John  Hervey  with  his  deadly  smile  and  ghastly 
painted  face — I  hate  them.  There  is  Hoadley,  cringing  from 
one  bishopric  to  another;  yonder  comes  little  Mr.  Pope  from 
Twickenham,  with  his  friend  the  Irish  Dean,  in  his  new 
cassock,  bowing,  too,  but  with  rage  flashing  from  under  his 
bushy  eyebrows  and  scorn  and  hate  quivering  in  his  smile. 

I  read  that  Lady  Yarmouth  sold  a  bishopric  to  a  clergy- 
man for  £5000.  Was  he  the  only  prelate  of  his  time  led  up  by 
such  hands  for  consecration?  As  I  peep  into  George  II's  St. 
James  I  see  crowds  of  cassocks  rustling  up  the  back  stairs  of 
the  ladies  of  the  Court;  stealthy  clergy  slipping  purses  into 
their  laps;  that  Godless  old  King  yawning  under  his  canopy 
in  the  Chapel  Royal  as  the  Chaplain  before  him  is  discours- 
ing. Discoursing  about  what?  About  righteousness  and 
judgment.  Whilst  the  Chaplain  is  preaching,  the  King  is 
chattering  in  German  almost  as  loud  as  the  preacher.  .  .  No 
wonder  the  clergy  were  corrupt  and  indifferent  amongst 
this  indifference  and  corruption.  No  wonder  that  skeptics 
multiplied  and  morals  degenerated — I  say  I  am  scared  as  I 
look  round  at  this  society — at  this  king,  at  these  courtiers,  at 
these  politicians,  at  these  Bishops." 

Surely  it  is  an  amazing  and  a  cheering  spectacle  to  turn 
from  this  picture  to  the  mild  and  gentle  priest  in  his  seclu- 
sion on  the  Island  of  Peace,  praying  and  studying  and 
spending  his  fortune  in  good  works  and  waiting  so  patiently 
for  the  promised  grant  that  never  came  to  erect  his  college 
for  the  instruction  of  American  youth  in  the  word  of  God 
and  the  training  of  priests  who  should  go  forth  to  convert 
the  native  tribes  to  the  Christian  religion. 


86 

And  while  we  are  quoting  Thackeray  it  may  not  be 
amiss  to  add  a  few  Hnes  of  his  about  Walpole,  the  accom- 
phshed,  cynical  Prime  Minister,  who  presided  over  this 
corrupt  Court  and  ruled  England;  the  man  to  whom  poor 
Berkeley  must  look  for  the  payment  of  his  grant.  "In 
religion,"  says  Thackeray,  "he  was  little  less  than  a  heathen; 
cracked  ribald  jokes  at  big-wigs  and  bishops  and  laughed  at 
High  Church  and  Low.  In  private  life  the  old  pagan  rev- 
elled in  the  lowest  pleasures.  He  passed  his  Sundays  tip- 
pling at  Richmond;  and  his  holidays  bawling  after  dogs  or 
boozing  at  Houghton  with  boors  over  beef  and  punch.  He 
cared  for  letters  no  more  than  his  master  did." 

Such  was  the  group  from  which  the  zeal  and  devotion  of 
Berkeley  wrested  a  reluctant  but  substantial  support  for  his 
enthusiastic  scheme  for  the  conversion  of  the  blacks  and 
savages  of  the  New  World;  such  the  life  on  which  he  turned 
his  back,  rejecting  its  rewards  and  favors  for  the  arduous 
toil  of  the  missionary  and  the  pioneer,  not  unlike  Moses  who 
esteemed  the  reproaches  of  Christ  greater  riches  than 
the  treasures  of  Egypt. 

In  1727,  June  14,  King  George  I  died.  Strangely 
enough  this  scarcely  halted  the  plan  of  St.  Paul's  College. 
On  July  6  Berkeley  writes  to  his  friend  Prior:  "Dear  Tom. 
This  is  to  inform  you  that  I  have  obtained  a  new  warrant  for 
a  grant,  signed  by  His  present  Majesty,  contrary  to  the 
expectations  of  my  friends,  who  thought  nothing  could  be 
expected  of  that  kind  in  this  great  hurry  of  business." 

All  went  well  and  on  September  5th,  1728,  the  Dean  sent 
his  farewells  to  the  same  correspondent. 

"Dear  Tom:  Tomorrow,  with  God's  blessing,  I  set  sail 
for  Rhode  Island  with  my  wife  and  a  friend  of  hers,  my  Lady 
Handcock's  daughter,  who  bears  us  company.  I  am  married 
since  I  saw  you  to  Miss  Forster,  daughter  of  the  late  Chief 
Justice,  whose  humor  and  turn  of  mind  pleases  me  beyond 
anything  I  know  in  her  whole  sex.  Mr.  James,  Mr.  Dalton 
and  Mr.  Smibert  go  with  us  on  this  voyage.  We  are  now  all 
together  at  Gravesend." 

The  voyage  must  have  occupied  more  than  four  months. 
Our  next  information  is  derived  from  the  invaluable  Memoir 


87 

of  Henry  Bull  as  published  in  the  Newport,  R.  I.,  Republican 
Jan.  3,  1832-Dee.  26,  1838  and  Newport  Mercury  Jan.  14, 
1854— Nov.  23,  1861,  Vol.  II  p.  119. 

Dean  Berkeley's  Arrival  in  Newport.* 

This  year,  1729,  Dean  Berkeley  arrived  in  Newport,  a 
notice  of  which  we  extract  from  the  New  England  Weekly 
Journal,  printed  in  Boston  on  Monday,  Feb.  3rd,  1729. 

"Yesterday  arrived  here  Dean  Berkeley  of  Londery  in  a 
pretty  large  ship.  He  is  a  gentleman  of  middle  stature,  of  an 
agreeable,  pleasant  and  erect  aspect.  He  was  ushered  into 
the  town  with  a  great  number  of  gentlemen,  to  whom  he 
behaved  himself  after  a  very  complaisant  manner.  It  is  said 
he  proposes  to  tarry  here  with  his  family  about  three 
months." 

What  follows  seems  to  be  added  by  Henry  Bull. 

Having  undertaken  the  wild  scheme  of  establishing  a 
College  in  the  Bermuda  Islands  for  the  conversion  of  the 
American  savages  to  Christianity,  aided  by  the  promised 
patronage  of  the  King  and  many  of  the  influential  clergy  of 
the  nation,  he,  with  soine  others  who  followed  his  fortunes, 
sailed  from  England  for  the  Island  of  Bermuda.  After  a 
tedious  passage  they  found  themselves,  as  they  supposed,  in 
the  latitude  of  the  Islands  but  were  not  able  to  discover 
them;  and  after  cruising  about  for  some  time  in  the  neigh- 
borhood gave  over  the  pursuit;  they  then  concluded  to 
return  to  England,  and  steering  a  northern  course,  tradition 
says  they  made  land  and  hove  out  a  signal,  uncertain  what 
land  it  was,  but  supposing  themselves  on  the  coast  of 
America,  and  some  part  inhabited  by  Indans  only.  A  boat 
came  alongside  of  the  ship  in  which  was  two  of  the  Islanders, 
who  informed  them  that  the  land  in  view  was  Block  Island. 
They  then  inquired  if  they  were  in  any  of  the  English  colo- 
nies of  New  England,  and  being  answered  in  the  affirmative 
they  further  inquired  if  there  w^as  any  harbor  and  seaport 
town  near,  and  were  answered  that  a  town  called  Newport 


*Letter  from  Newport  dated  Jan.  24,  1729. 


88 

lay  about  thirty  miles  distant,  where  was  an  Episcopal 
church,  the  Rector  of  which  was  the  Rev.  James  Honeyman. 
They  then  started  for  Newport,  accompanied  by  the  two 
Block  Islanders  who  carried  the  ship  into  the  west  passage, 
the  wind  being  adverse  for  entering  the  harbor  of  Newport. 
The  ship  cast  anchor  between  the  Island  of  Conanicut  and 
Narragansett.  The  two  men  from  Block  Island  landed  on 
Conanicut  and  called  upon  a  Mr.  Gardner  and  Mr.  Martin, 
both  of  whom  were  members  of  Mr.  Honeyman's  church,  and 
informed  them  that  a  great  dignitary  of  the  church  from 
England — called  Dean!  was  on  board  the  ship,  together 
with  other  passengers.  They  also  produced  a  letter  from  the 
Dean  directed  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Honeyman,  on  the  receipt  of 
which  Gardner  and  Martin  came  to  Newport  in  a  small  boat 
to  bring  the  intelligence  and  also  to  bring  the  letter — when 
on  their  arrival  they  found  that  Mr.  Honeyman  was  at  the 
church,  it  being  the  day  on  which  Divine  service  was  held 
there;  they  then  sent  the  letter  by  a  servant,  who  delivered 
it  to  Mr.  Honeyman  in  his  pulpit;  he  opened  the  letter  and 
read  it  to  the  congregation,  from  the  contents  of  which  it 
appeared  that  the  Dean  might  be  expected  to  arrive  every 
moment.  The  church  was  then  dismissed  with  the  blessing 
and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Honeyman,  together  with  Wardens,  Vestry, 
church  and  congregation,  male  and  female,  repaired  imme- 
diately to  the  Ferry  Wharf,  where  they  arrived  a  little 
before  the  ferry  boat  which  contained  the  Dean,  his  family 
and  friends.  The  Dean  was  received  on  his  landing  by  the 
gentlemen  of  the  church  and  others  of  the  town,  who  had 
collected  thus  hastily  on  the  occasion,  with  the  most  respect- 
ful and  hearty  welcome;  and  the  people,  forming  themselves 
in  procession,  escorted  the  Dean  and  his  suite  to  the  house  of 
Mr.  Honeyman. 

"The  Dean  continued  about  two  years  in  Newport  and 
often  performed  Divine  service  at  Trinity  Church.  He  pur- 
chased a  farm  about  three  miles  from  the  compact  part  of 
the  town,  and  built  a  house  there,  which  he  named  White 
Hall  and  after  his  return  to  England  in  1733  he  presented  the 
church  with  a  fine  organ. 

"What  is  contained  in  the  preceding  quotations  was 
related  to  the  writer  by  an  elderly  intelligent  gentleman  who 


89 

states  that  it  is  according  to  his  recollection  of  frequent 
conversations  held  at  his  father's  house  when  he  was  about 
14  or  15  years  of  age,by  his  father  and  Messrs.  Wickhani, 
Malbone,  Pease,  Rev.  Dr.  Eyers,  Bisset  and  Gardner  Thurs- 
ton." 

This  entertaining  and  circumstantial  account,  the  only 
one  we  have  of  the  Dean's  arrival,  seems  to  err  in  one  or  two 
particulars.  In  the  first  place,  as  we  have  seen,  the  ship  set 
sail  for  Newport  and  was  by  no  means  lost  when  she  sighted 
Block  Island,  but  close  to  her  desired  haven.  In  the  second 
place,  the  picturesque  detail  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Honeyman, 
wardens,  vestry,  church  and  congregation  repairing  to  Ferry 
Wharf  cannot  be  taken  at  its  face  value.  The  day  was 
Thursday,  January  23,  not  a  holy  day  in  the  church  calendar 
and  not  the  day  on  which  Divine  service  was  held.  That  day 
was  Sunday;  and  the  distinguished  visitor,  as  was  quite 
proper,  preached  at  the  service  on  the  Sunday  following, 
from  the  text:  The  Law  and  the  Prophets  were  until  John; 
since  then  the  King  of  God  is  preached.  St.  L.  16:16.  What 
probably  happened  was  that  the  Rector  was  at  church  for  a 
baptism  or  a  wedding  or  some  special  service,  got  word  of 
the  ship's  arrival,  and  informed  some  of  his  neighbors  who 
went  with  him  to  the  waterside. 

However  this  may  be  the  hospitable  rector  received  the 
visitor  and  his  wife  into  his  home  and  entertained  them  for 
some  months  or  until  land  had  been  bought  and  the  Dean's 
house,  his  first  home,  for  he  had  lived  in  college  rooms, 
lodgings  and  the  like  all  his  life,  was  built.  Like  a  loyal 
cavalier  he  called  it  White  Hall;  and  with  every  evidence  of 
comfort  and  satisfaction  he  set  up  his  lares  and  penates 
and  enjoyed  quiet  domestic  life;  giving  himself  to  study; 
and  receiving,  though  rarely  paying,  visits. 

Berkeley's  accounts  of  Newport,  written  home  to  Eng- 
land, were,  as  is  well  known,  most  enthusiastic.  He  says 
he  was  never  more  agreeably  surprised  than  at  the  sight  of 
the  tow^n  and  harbour  of  Newport.  Again  he  described  it 
as  exhibiting  "some  of  the  softest  rural  and  grandest  ocean 
scenery  in  the  world."  He  purposely  set  his  house  in  a 
valley  out  of  sight  of  the  sea  so  that  he  might  daily  renew 
the  fresh   surprise   of  catching  sight   of   the   lovely   shore. 


90 

"To  enjoy  what  is  to  be  seen  from  the  hill,"  he  said,  "I  must 
visit  it  only  occasionally.  If  the  prospect  were  constantly  in 
view  it  would  lose  its  charm." 

It  was  in  July  or  August,  1729,  that  he  removed  from 
Newport  to  his  farm  and  took  up  his  residence.  His  three 
friends  James,  Dalton  and  Smibert  removed  at  the  same 
time  from  Newport  to  Boston.  Here  he  lived  the  life  of  a 
studious  recluse.  He  never  visited  Boston  till  the  day  he 
sailed  thence  for  England;  and  made  no  figure  in  the  social 
life  of  Newport.  Now  and  then  he  paid  visits  to  the  Indians 
of  the  mainland  in  whose  conversion  he  Was  deeply  inter- 
ested. It  is  thus  impossible  to  extract  very  much  local  color 
from  his  correspondence.  The  passage  from  the  memoirs  of 
his  grandson,  Monck  Berkeley,  is  well  known.  As  it  was 
written  by  the  Dean's  daughter-in-law  it  may  be  regarded  as 
authentic,  in  a  sense,  but  it  lacked  the  ring  of  versimilitude, 
"In  one  thing  the  various  sectaries  at  Newport,  both  men 
and  women,  all  agreed — in  a  rage  for  finery,  to  the  great 
amusement  of  Berkeley;  two  learned,  elegant  friends.  Sir 
John  James  and  Richard  Dalton,  Esq.,  the  men  in  flam- 
ing scarlet  coats  and  waistcoats,  laced  and  fringed  with 
brightest  glaring  yellow.  The  sly  Quakers,  not  venturing 
on  these  charming  coats  and  waistcoats,  yet  loving  finery, 
figured  away  with  plate  on  their  sideboards.  One,  to  the  no 
small  diversion  of  Berkeley,  sent  to  England  and  had  made 
on  purpose,  a  noble  large  tea-pot  of  solid  gold,  and  inquired 
of  the  Dean,  when  drinking  tea  with  him  whether  Friend 
Berkeley  had  ever  seen  such  a  curious  thing.  On  being  told 
that  silver  ones  were  much  in  use  in  England  but  that  he 
had  never  seen  a  gold  one,  Ebenezer  replied,  "Aye,  that  was 
the  thing:  I  was  resolved  to  have  something  finer  than  any- 
body else.  They  say  that  the  Queen  has  not  got  one."  The 
Dean  delighted  his  ridiculous  host  by  assuring  him  that  this 
was  an  unique;     and  very  happy  it  made  him." 

But  if  he  did  not  mingle  very  much  with  the  gay  fash- 
ionable red  and  yellow-coated  society  of  the  day,  the  Dean 
managed  to  draw  round  himself  two  circles  not  less  inter- 
esting to  his  mind:  a  conference  of  clergymen  which  occa- 
sionally met  at  his  house;  and  the  famous  Philosophical  So- 
ciety out  of  which  sprung  the  Redwood  Library.     "The  mis- 


91 

sionaries  from  the  English  Society,  who  resided  within  a 
hundred  miles  of  Newport,"  writes  Mrs.  Berkeley,  the  Dean's 
wife,  "agreed  among  themselves  to  hold  a  sort  of  Synod 
there  twice  in  a  year,  in  order  to  enjoy  the  advantages  of 
his  advice  and  exhortation.  Four  of  these  meetings  were 
accordingly  held.  One  of  the  principal  points  which  he  then 
pressed  upon  his  fellow  laborers  was  the  absolute  necessity 
of  conciliating  by  all  innocent  means  the  affection  of  their 
hearers,  and  also  of  their  dissenting  neighbors."  No  record 
of  the  meetings  of  this  conference  has  been  kept.  But  the 
letters  that  passed  between  Berkeley  and  the  most  distin- 
guished of  the  American  participants  in  the  discussions, 
Samuel  Johnson,  are  deeply  interesting  and  form  an  im- 
portant link  in  the  chain  of  American  Philosophic  thought. 
"Johnson  was  born  at  Guildford,  Conn.,  of  a  fainily 
prominent  in  the  Congregational  Church.  He  graduated 
from  Yale  College  in  1714  and  was  tutor  there  fro  ml716- 
1719.  By  reading  the  works  of  eminent  Anglican  divines — 
I  quote  Prof.  Frazer — and  after  many  conferences  among 
themselves.  Cutler,  then  Rector  of  Yale  College,  Johnson  and 
some  other  ministers,  were  led,  about  1722  to  doubt  the  va- 
lidity of  Presbyterian  ordination  and  the  expediency  of  ex- 
tempore common-prayer.  They  soon  announced  their  new 
convictions  and  cast  in  their  lot  with  the  Church  of  Hoo'.ier, 

Cudworth  and  Barrow Cutler,  Johnson  and  Brown 

now  resigned  their  pastoral  charges  in  the  neighborhood  in 
order  to  connect  themselves  with  this  communion.  In  1722 
they  crossed  the  ocean  to  obtain  Episcopal  ordination  in 
England.  Johnson  is  said  to  have  visited  Pope  at  his  villa, 
who  gave  him  cuttings  from  his  Twickenham  willow.  These 
he  carried  from  the  banks  of  the  Thames  and  planted  on 
the  banks  of  his  own  beautiful  river  at  Stratford,  in  Con- 
necticut, when  he  was  settled  there  in  1723."  It  seems  that 
Johnson,  a  very  scholarly  and  thoughtful  man,  had  fallen  in 
with  Berkeley's  earlier  works  and  had  been  by  them  con- 
verted to  his  Idealistic  Philosophy.  Upon  Berkeley's  settling 
in  his  vicinity  he  naturally  sought  the  opportunity  for  fre- 
quent conference.  A  warm  acquaintance  sprung  up  and  a 
copious  correspondence  ensued  on  various  philosophic  sub- 
jects.    The  reader  who  is  curious  to  understand  Berkeley's 


92 

philosophy,  and  it  is  one  of  the  the  world's  great  systems, 
cannot  do  better  than  read  Alciphron,  that  charming  Dia- 
logue almost  as  clear  and  limpid  in  style  as  one  of  Plato's 
own,  written  here  at  Newport  while  its  author  sat  in  his 
chair  near  the  Second  Beach,  gazing  out  over  the  ocean;  and 
then  turn  to  the  letters  between  Berkeley  and  Johnson  in 
which  minute  points  are  gone  over  at  length.  Take  this 
sentence,  for  example,  pitched  upon  almost  by  chance : — 
"You  say  you  agree  with  me  that  there  is  nothing  within  your 
mind  but  God  and  other  spirits,  with  the  attributes  or  prop- 
erties belonging  to  them  and  the  ideas  contained  in  them." 
Berkeley  to  Johnson,  The  master  is  setting  his  pupil's  feet 
on  the  assured  ground  of  a  common  agreement.  To  know 
anything  is  to  perform  an  intellectual  or  mental  process. 
To  be  knowable,  then,  all  things  must  be,  in  a  degree,  of  the 
same  texture  as  the  mind.  As  we  study  Nature  and  learn 
her  ways  we  follow  an  intellectual  path  always.  And  the 
one  great  mind  that  holds  all  things  in  its  grasp,  and  has 
made  them  knowable  by  us  is  God.  When  Berkeley  looked 
on  the  scenery  of  this  perfect  pearl  of  an  island  he  thrilled 
with  a  sense  of  pleasure  almost  beyond  words  to  express 
because,  I  suppose,  its  beauty  seemed  to  him  to  reflect  visibly 
the  grace  of  God.  That  connection  is  the  key  tha;  unlocks 
the  secret  of  the  loveliness  of  Nature.  Wordsworth  came 
upon  it  as  a  little  lad  when  he  thrashed  the  hazel  coppice  for 
nuts  and  then,  having  gotten  his  hazelnuts,  stood  aghast  to 
see  how  the  shattered  trees  seemed  to  utter  a  mute  protest 
to  Heaven. 

And  unless  I  now 
Confound  my  present  feelings  with  the  past 
Ere  from  the  mutilated  bower  I  turned, 
Exulting,  rich  beyond  the  wealth  of  kings, 
I  felt  a  sense  of  pain  when  I  beheld 
The  silent  trees,  and  saw  the  intruding  sky- 
Then  dearest  Maiden,  move  along  these  shades 
In  gentleness  of  heart,  with  gentle  hand 
Touch — for  there  is  a  spirit  in  the  woods. 

Johnson  learned  this  great  truth,  the  secret  of  the  high- 
est poetry  and  the  highest  philosophy,  from  Berkeley.  He 
himself   later   published    a  book  "Elementa    Philosophica," 


93 

printed  by  Benjamin  Franklin  at  Philadelphia  in  1752.  He 
was  the  founder  of  King's  College,  now  Columbia  University, 
in  New  York. 

Members  of  the  Philosophic  Society  were  Col.  Updike, 
Judge  Scott — a  grand-uncle  of  Sir  Walter  Scott — Nathaniel 
Kay,  Henry  Collins,  Nathan  Townsend,  the  Reverend  James 
Honeyman  and  the  Reverend  Jeremiah  Condy.  Johnson  of 
Stratford  and  McSparran,  Church  of  England  Missionary  in 
the  Narragansett  country,  occasionally  attended  the  meeet- 
ings. 

Two  children  were  born  to  the  Berkeleys  in  Newport. 
The  first  was  a  boy,  Henry  by  name.  The  Church  Register 
gives  the  record  of  his  baptism  "1729  September  1st,  Henry 
Berkeley,  son  of  Dean  Berkeley,  baptized  by  his  father  and 
received  into  the  Church."  The  second  was  a  daughter  who 
died  in  infancy,  and  whose  grave  is  near  that  of  Nathaniel 
Kay  in  the  church  yard. 

Two  strains  of  sadness  and  anxiety  run  through  the 
Newport  letters.  His  friends  had  begun  to  wonder  at  his 
delay  in  departing  for  Bermuda.  It  seemed  to  betoken  un- 
certainty; and  subscriptions  were  no  longer  forthcoming. 
As  a  matter  of  fact  there  was  no  sort  of  use  in  leaving  New- 
port till  the  royal  grant  should  be  paid,  for  he  had  spent 
his  private  fortune  in  buying  the  White  Hall  farm  and  had 
nothing  to  go  on  with.  But  this  was  the  second  trouble,  the 
money  from  the  Exchequer  was  not  forthcoming.  The 
royal  and  noble  personages  who  had  favored  it  and  the  pol- 
iticians who  had  voted  it  had  not  the  slightest  interest, 
naturally,  in  the  savages  or  their  religion.  They  had  been 
interested  in  and  won  over  by  the  towering  genius  and  en- 
thusiasm of  Berkeley.  He  being  gone  their  interest  died. 
From  the  moment  he  sailed  away  from  England  there  had 
ceased  to  be  any  likelihood  whatever  that  a  penny  of  the 
St.  Christopher  money  would  every  follow  him.  So  here  in 
Newport  he  waited  and  worried  and  ate  his  heart  out  and 
wrote  letters  to  all  his  friends  begging  them  to  intercede 
with  the  Government  for  him.  The  incident  furnishes  an 
excellent  commentary  on  the  text:  Put  not  your  trust  in 
Princes.  December  23rd,  1730,  Lord  Percival  wrote  to  say 
that  Walpole  had  finally  confessed  that  the  money  would 


94 

never  be  paid;  one  of  those  statements  politicians  can 
make  in  private  but  must  resist  and  repel  the  accusation  of 
in  public.  Already  the  unhappy  truth  had  forced  itself 
home  on  poor  Berkeley's  mind.  Hope  deferred  had  made 
his  heart  sick.  He  wrote  from  Newport :  "As  for  the  rail- 
lery of  European  wits  I  should  not  mind  it  if  I  saw  my  col- 
lege go  on  and  prosper;  but  I  must  own  the  disappointments 
I  have  met  with  in  this  particular  have  nearly  touched  me, 
not  without  affecting  my  health  and  spirits,"  This,  with  an- 
other in  the  same  tenour  were  the  last  letters  he  wrote  from 
America.  In  the  Autumn  of  1731  he  sadly  set  sail  from 
Boston.  On  Friday,  February  18th  we  find  him  preaching 
the  annual  sermon  before  the  Society  for  the  Propagation 
of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts  in  the  Church  of  St.  Mary- 
le-Bow, 

"Bhode  Island,"  he  tells  his  hearers,  "is  inhabited  by 
an  English  Colony  consisting  chiefly  of  sectaries  of  many  dif- 
ferent denominations  wiio  seem  to  have  worn  off  part  of 
that  prejudice  which  they  inherited  from  their  ancestors 
against  the  National  Church  .  .  .  .,  though  it  must  be 
acknowledged  at  the  same  time  that  too  many  have  worn  off 
a  serious  sense  of  all  religion,  ....  being  equally  careless 
of  outward  worship  and  of  inward  principles.  The  native 
Indians  have  been  debauched  by  the  whites  with  strong 
drink,"  adding,  "it  would  seem  that  the  likeliest  step  towards 
converting  the  heathen  would  be  to  begin  with  the  English 

planters To  conclude :  if  we  proportioned  our  zeal 

to  the  importance  of  things;  if  we  would  love  men  whose 
opinions  we  do  not  approve;  if  we  knew  the  world  more  and 
liked  it  less;  if  we  had  a  due  sense  of  the  Divine  perfections 
and  our  own  defects;  and  if,  in  order  and  all  this  that 
were  done  in  places  of  education  which  cannot  be  done  so 
well  out  of  them — I  say,  if  these  steps  were  taken  at  home 
while  proper  measures  are  carrying  on  abroad  the  one  would 
very  much  facilitate  the  other." 

From  which  it  appears  that,  while  he  had  given  over  his 
hope  of  elevating  the  education  of  the  Colonies  he  had  not 
in  the  least  changed  his  mind  as  to  the  propriety  or  neces- 
sity of  doing  it. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  we  have  no  extended  notice  of 


95 

the  Dean's  preaching  in  Newport  nor  one  of  his  sermons  en- 
tire, only  the  rough  notes  of  twelve  of  the  discourses.  It 
would  be  interesting  to  know  what  the  colonists  thought  of 
the  preaching  of  one  who  was  regarded  as  a  model  of  elo- 
quence in  his  own  land.  Personally  they  liked  him  and  were 
delighted  to  have  so  distinguished  a  neighbor  and  flocked  to 
the  church  to  hear  him.  But  whether  they  approved  his 
rhetoric  or  contrasted  it  unfavorably  with  that  of  their  native 
preachers,  as  seems  not  unlikely,  does  not  appear. 

As  for  the  sermons  themselves  they  are  notable  in  two 
respects.  In  the  first  place  the  earlier  sermons  are  very  gen- 
eral in  their  nature  and  very  conciliatory  in  tone.  One  for 
example,  evidently  fitted  to  the  minds  of  dissenters,  begins 
thus:  Divisions  into  essentials  and  circumstantials  in  Re- 
ligion. Circumstantials  of  less  value  (1)  from  the  nature 
of  things;  (2)  from  their  being  left  undefined;  (3)  from  the 
concession  of  our  Church  which  is  foully  misrepresented. 
Sad  that  religion  which  requires  us  to  love,  should  become 
the  cause  of  our  hating  one  another." 

But,  second,  as  time  wore  on  and  the  preacher  became 
better  acquainted  with  his  environment,  studied  the  society 
about  him  and  formed  a  definite  inpression  of  its  deepest  re- 
ligious needs  the  tone  changes.  Very  frankly,  as  a  good 
physician  of  the  soul,  he  puts  his  finger  on  the  sore  spot  in 
the  community.  One  can  scarcely  believe  these  later  ser- 
mons were  as  popular  as  the  first.  I  quote  the  account  of 
them  given  by  Moses  Coit  Tyler  in  his  volume,  Three  Men 
of  Letters:  p.  41,  "Two  of  the  most  notable  of  his  Ameri- 
can sermons  are  significant  of  his  penetrating  study  into  the 
characteristic  vices  of  a  community  neither  sensual  or  friv- 
olous,— vices  born  of  the  ungenerous  activity  of  a  legion 
of  unbridled  tongues.  These  sermons  furnish  us  with  ex- 
amples of  his  aptitude  for  social  criticism — criticism  so  fine- 
ly edged  as  to  culminate  into  something  like  satire.  "Vices, 
like  weeds,  different  in  different  countries;  national  vice 
familiar;  intemperate  lust  in  Italy;  drinking  in  Germany; 
tares  wherever  there  is  good  seed;  though  not  sensual,  not 
less  deadly,  e.  g.  detraction;  would  not  steal  sixpence,  but 
rob  a  man  of  his  reputation;  they  who  have  no  relish  for 
wine  have  itching  ears  for  scandal;  this  vice  often  observed 


96 

in  sober  people;  praise  and  blame  natural  justice;  where  we 
know  a  man  lives  in  habitual  sin  unrepented,  we  may  pre- 
vent hypocrites  from  doing  evil;  but  to  judge  without  in- 
quiry to  show  a  facility  in  believing  and  a  readiness  to  re- 
port evil  of  one's  neighbor;  frequency,  little  horror  great 
guilt." 

Satan  "tempts  men  to  sensuality,  but  he  is  in  his  own  na- 
ture malicious  and  malignant;  pride  and  ill-nature,  two 
vices  most  severely  rebuked  by  our  Saviour.  All  deviations 
sinful,  but  those  upon  dry  purpose  more  so;  malignity  of 
spirit  like  an  ulcer  in  the  nobler  parts;  age  cures  sensual 
vices,  this  grows  with  age;  imposing  on  others  and  even  on 
themselves  as  religion  and  a  zeal  for  God's  service,  when 
it  really  proceeds  only  from  ill-will  to  man  and  is  no  part 
of  our  duty  to  God,  but  directly  contrary  to  it."  These  ex- 
tracts while  not  indicating  the  literary  style  of  the  Dean's 
preaching  at  least  show  us  something  of  his  way  of  think- 
ing. They  show  also  that  he  agreed  with  St.  James  as 
to  the  relative  value  of  sins  of  the  tongue. 

Whitehall  and  his  library  he  conveyed  to  Yale  College, 
a  very  generous  gift.  Later  he  sent  an  organ  and  a  bell  to 
Trinity  Church  where  he  was  long  remembered. 

He  kissed  hands  for  the  Diocese  of  Cloyne,  January  17th 
1734,  a  position  which  he  held  till  1752  when  he  retired  to 
Oxford,  residing  on  Holywell  Street.  Here,  on  the  evening 
of  Sunday,  January  14th,  he  passed  away,  surrounded 
by  his  family.  His  wife  had  been  reading  aloud  to  the 
little  family  party  the  lesson  in  the  Burial  Service  taken 
from  the  15th  Chapter  of  the  I  Ep.  to  the  Corinthians,  and 
he  had  been  making  remarks  on  that  sublime  passage.  His 
daughter  soon  after  went  to  offer  him  some  tea.  She  found 
him,  as  it  seemed,  asleep,  but  his  body  was  already  cold;  for 
it  was  the  last  sleep — the  mystery  of  death;  and  the  world  of 
the  senses  had  suddenly  ceased  to  be  a  medium  of  inter- 
course between  his  spirit  and  those  who  remained. 


The  Sephardic  Jews  of  Newport 


A  Paper  read  before  the  Newport  Historical  Society 
June  12th,  1917 


By 
Rev.  J.  PEREIRA  MENDES,  D.D. 


Ministers  of  the  Earlier  or  Sephardic  Jews 
of  Newport 

What  is  the  meaning  of  the  word  "Sephardic"? 

Who  were,  and  who  are,  the  Sephardic  Jews? 

In  what  way  are  they  difi'erent  from  any  other  Jews? 

And  above  all,  what  have  they  accomplished  in  human 
history  for  humanity's  uplift? 

History  is  written  by  the  finger  of  God. 

Sometimes  man  attempts  to  write  a  chapter  for  his  own 
gain  or  glory.  Then  paragraphs  are  written  with  blood,  or 
pages  are  blurred  with  tears,  or  deceit  can  be  read  between 
the  lines.  But  just  as  the  battlefield,  scarred,  stained  and 
burnt,  becomes  in  time  by  the  magic  of  God,  covered  by 
growths  which  hide  and  beautify,  so  the  aftermath  of  human 
sin  is  the  mercy  and  pardon  of  God,  evidencing  that  "God 
has  passed  by."t  The  contests  and  sufferings  which  history 
records,  the  sorrows  and  horrors  born  of  man's  inhumanity 
to  man,  are  by  the  chemistry  of  God  made  to  lead  to  better 
conditions  which  hide  and  beautify  the  unsightly  past.  By 
some  Divine  alchemy  they  are  made  to  produce  a  re-creation. 
By  some  Divine  miracle  they  are  transmuted  into  what 
stands  for  Human  Happiness  and  makes  for  Human  Pro- 
gress. 

In  this  magic  and  mercy  of  God,  in  this  chemistry,  al- 
chemy, miracle  of  God  for  Human  Happiness,  Progress  and 
Uplift,  the  Sephardic  Jews,  like  all  other  Jews,  have  been 
humble  instruments  of  the  Divine  Will.  Their  special  work 
in  human  history  I  shall  presently  indicate. 

To  show  how  human  history  as  written  by  man  is  over- 
written by  the  finger  or  hand  of  God,  let  me  illustrate  by  cit- 
ing but  one  or  two  striking  instances  from  ancient,  medieval 
and  modern  history. 


tThis  expression  means  Divine  forgiveness  of  human  sin.  It  is  used  in 
Exodus,  XXXIV  :  6,  in  the  passage  describing  how  some  of  the  Hebrews  were 
seduced  to  worship  Apis,  the  calf,  one  of  the  gods  of  Egypt,  by  the  Egyp- 
tians who  left  Egypt  with  them.  Their  disloyalty  brought  due  punishment, 
but  "He  passed  by"  and  mercifully  and  graciously  forgave. 


100 

Babylon  wrote  her  conquest  of  Jerusalem  and  the 
"Seventy  Years'  Captivity"  to  proclaim  the  triumph  of 
Babylon.  But  the  hand  of  God  overwrote  or  re-wrote  it  to 
declare  the  triumph  of  God,  for  it  tells  of  the  purification  of 
our  nation,  its  preparation  for  its  world-task  of  spreading 
the  kingdom  of  God  westward  in  and  beyond  Judea.  And 
was  it  mere  coincidence  or  was  it  the  finger  of  God,  that  just 
in  that  very  era,  when  Jewish  thought  was  felt  in  Babylon, 
the  then  metropolis  of  the  world  where  those  great  Jewish 
schools  of  learning  were  origined,  the  three  greatest  thought- 
leaders,  Zoroaster,  Gotama  Buddha  and  Confucius  carried 
Eastward  lofty  thoughts  of  Hebrew  tinge?*  Four  centuries 
later  Syria  meant  her  conquest  of  Palestine  to  write  Syria's 
glory.  But  the  finger  of  God  re-wrote  it,  to  mean  the  victory 
of  Monotheism,  achieved  by  Judas  Maccabeus,  over  Polythe- 
ism, a  victory  which  alone  made  possible  the  births  of  the 
daughter-faiths,  Christianity  and  Islam  which  have  done  so 
much  to  lift  mankind  from  classic  mists  and  desert  myths  to 
a  clearer  conception  of  the  One  "God  Universal,"  to  whom 
Abraham,  first  of  the  Hebrews,  built  his  early  altarf  and  of 
whom  Malachi,  last  of  the  prophets,  spake.l 

Xerxes  wrote  history  to  proclaim  Persia's  ambition  to 
orientalize  Europe.  But  the  finger  of  God  rewrote  it  to 
mean  the  rescue  of  Europe  forever  from  Orientalism,  thus 
to  make  possible  Human  Progress  and  Civilization  upon 
which  Human  Happiness  rests. 

In  what  we  may  call  medieval  history,  Pope  Hilde- 
brand  and  William  the  Conqueror  w^rote  the  Conquest  of 
England  to  spell  subjugation  of  peoples'  rights  and  the  in- 
crease of  Papal  power.  The  Pope  even  gave  the  Norman 
a  ring  as  if  to  mean  the  marriage  of  Church  and  State.  But 
the  finger  of  God  re-wrote  that  chapter  of  English  history 
to  spell  Runnymede,  or  the  triumph  of  the  peoples'  rights; 
to  mean  Wyclif,  and  presently  Cranmer  and  Henry,  through 


*The  victory  of  good  over  evil,  an  era  of  vi^orld-peace,  filial  reverence 
are  Hebrew  concepts  adopted  by  Zoroastriaism,  Buddhism,  Confucianism 
respectively. 

tGenesis  xxi.  33. 

JHave  we  not  all  one  father — hath  not  one  God  created  us  ?  Malachi 
II :  10. 


101 

whom  England  was  divorced  from  the  Papacy,  not  married 
to  it,  to  mean  the  eternal  divorce  of  Church  and  State,  and 
freedom  of  the  people,  freedom  of  conscience,  "now  and 
forever !" 

And  who  doubts  but  that  the  history  of  today  now 
being  written  with  blood  and  blurred  with  tears,  will,  by 
God's  magic  or  alchemy,  by  the  finger  or  hand  of  God,  be  re- 
written to  mean  man's  democratization,  to  mean  human  in- 
stitutions and  conditions  that  shall  mean  human  betterment 
and  uplift,  secured  by  a  peace  with  honor  for  all  nations, 
that  shall  be  a  Peace  Permanent.  The  Sephardic  Jews  have 
been  elements  in  this  chemistry  or  alchemy  of  God.  The 
history  of  the  Sephardic  Jews  has  been  written  by  man,  but 
it  has  been,  time  and  time  again,  re-written  by  the  hand  of 
God. 

When  Rome  conquered  Jerusalem  and  long  lines  of  cap- 
tives left  Palestine  for  the  galleys,  the  mines  and  amphi- 
theatres of  their  Roman  masters,  Rome  wrote  a  page  of  her 
history  designed  to  tell  of  Roman  glory.  But  the  hand  of 
God  rewrote  that  page,  to  mean  the  salvation  of  mankind 
from  the  coming  dark  and  middle  ages,  eras  of  which  no 
Roman  even  dreamed  or  could  dream. 

The  Sephardic  Jews  are  those  who  settled  in  Spain, 
called  Sepharad,  and  on  the  Mediterranean  coast.  The 
term  "Sephardic  Jews"  is  now  applied  to  their  descendants. 

Hebrews  had  for  ages  before  the  destruction  of  Jeru- 
salem, *  or  the  Christian  era,  been  settling  in  many  a  city 
of  the  Roman  world.  The  prophet  Joel  tells  of  Hebrews 
sold  as  slaves  to  Greece,  f  The  historic  books  speak  of  the 
trade  of  Tarshish,  identified  with  ancient  Tartessus.  Rojas 
states  that  five  hundred  years  before  the  Christian  era,  He- 
brews built  Toledo  or  Toledoth,  Escaluna,  Magueda,  Cada- 
liolsa,  Guardia,  Romeria,  Almoroz,  Noves,  Nombleca  and  the 
present  Tembleque  in  Spain.  Marianna  connects  the  ad- 
vent of  the  Jews  in  Spain  with  the  era  of  Nebuchadnezzar. 
De  Leon  remarks  in  his  preface  to  the  history  of  the  Jews 
of  Bayonne  that  it  is  said  that  a  synagogue  existed  at  Toledo 


*The  year  70  of  the  common  era. 
tJoel  IV  :  6. 


102 

before  the  destruction  of  the  Second  Temple.  De  Leon  also 
speaks  of  a  number  of  Jews  carried  with  their  families  to 
Spain  after  the  destruction  of  the  First  Temple. 

Some  of  these  families  assumed  to  be  descended  from 
the  royal  house  of  David,  and  alleged  that  their  ancestors 
had  been  established  from  time  immemorial  in  and  around 
Lucena,  Toledo  and  Seville.  Graetz  mentions  these  tradi- 
tions and  the  derivation  of  the  names  of  several  Spanish 
towns  from  Hebrew  words,  such  as,  Toledo  from  Toledoth, 
Escaluna  from  Ascalon,  etc.  That  Hebrews  were  in  Spain 
long  before  the  Christian  era  is  also  indicated  by  a  letter 
written  by  the  Jews  in  Spain  declaring  that  they  had  no  part 
in  the  Crucifixion  as  they  were  then  in  Spain.  Some  may 
say  these  are  mere  traditions.  But  tradition  is  the  echo  of 
history  hovering  over  the  hills  of  time. 

Certainly  the  numbers  of  the  Hebrews  in  Spain  were 
vastly  swollen  by  the  advent  of  their  unfortunate  brethren 
driven  forth  by  the  legions  of  Titus  and  later  by  those  of 
Hadrian  after  the  Bar-Cochba  rebellion  was  crushed.  They 
were  known  as  Sephardim,  because  Sepharad,  mentioned  by 
the  prophet  Obadiah  is  identified  with  Spain. 

Certain  it  is  that  the  term  Sephardim  is  taken  to  mean 
the  Hebrews  around  the  whole  Mediterranean  coast,  easterly 
up  to  Babylon  and  the  Euphrates,  overspreading  westerly 
into  south  France,  and  after  the  expulsion  from  Spain  in 
1492  in  all  directions,— into  Holland,  the  Turkish  Empire, 
North,  Central  and  South  America,  the  West  Indies,  Kings- 
ton, Ja.,  and  Surinam;  Newport  and  New  Amsterdam  being 
among  the  chief  settlements  in  the  Northern  part  of  this 
Hemisphere. 

The  history  of  the  Sephardim,  thanks  to  the  hand  of 
man,  shows  tear-stains  and  blood-marks  to  mankind's  eter- 
nal shame. 

But  thanks  to  the  hand  of  God  as  He  re-wrote  it,  we  find 
that  the. historic  work  of  the  Sephardic  Jews  has  been  won- 
derfully blessed,  for  it  has  meant  the  blessing  of  humanity, 
in  as  much  as  it  helped  to  preserve  science,  to  cooperate  with 
the  Arabs  for  the  presentation  of  much  of  the  learning  of  the 
classic  world,  and  to  prepare  men's  minds  for  the  tremen- 
dous event  in  human  history,  the  Reformation.     In  other 


103 

words,  the  Sephardic  Jews  helped  to  uphold  the  banner  of 
learning,  to  proclaim  liberty  of  conscience,  to  promote  the 
consciousness  of  man's  personal  accountability  to  God  and 
thus  to  forward  mankind's  centuried  march  toward  true 
civilization  and  happiness. 

How  this  came  about  may  now  be  briefly  told. 

When  Goths  and  Vandals  conquered  Spain,  on  the  Fall 
of  the  Roman  Empire,  they  found  Jews  already  settled  in  the 
country. 

At  the  end  of  the  Sixth  century,  when  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic form  of  Christianity  became  the  recognized  religion  of 
Gothic  Spain,  persecution  of  the  Jews  began,  driving  many 
to  the  neighboring  shores  of  North  Africa. 

There  they  came  in  contact  with  the  Moors,  who  in  711, 
under  Tarik,  invaded  Spain  to  avenge  the  outrage  of  his 
daughter  by  a  Spanish  potentate. 

In  five  years  the  Moors  conquered  Spain,  and  the  glori- 
ous era  of  the  Jews  in  Spain  began. 

In  the  year,  750,  Abd-er-Rahman  ruled;  he  founded  the 
University  of  Cordova,  the  schools  of  Seville,  Lucena,  Gra- 
nada, encouraged  Jewish  and  Arab  scholarship  whose  ex- 
ponents and  professors  received  students  from  all  parts  of 
the  world.  Numerous  Jews  attained  high  honor  and  lasting 
fame  as  poets,  philosophers,  astronomers,  physicians,  math- 
ematicians, grammarians,  lexicographers,  financiers  and 
merchants.  Through  their  linguistic  skill,  they  translated 
classic  authors  from  Latin  or  Greek  into  Arabic,  while  at 
the  same  time  they  gave  Eastern  lore  to  the  Western  world. 
Withal,  they  united  the  study  of  the  Scriptures  and  tradition- 
al learning,  combining  intense  mental  activity  with  social 
and  domestic  culture. 

The  Arabs  had  sedulously  collected  and  translated  the 
Greek  philosophers,  but  not  the  Greek  poets  because  they 
abominated  the  lewdness  of  the  gods  of  Olympus  and 
abhorred  the  idea  that  any  God  could  be  guilty  of  such 
licentiousness  as  displayed  in  an  Iliad  or  Odyssey.  To 
every  mosque  was  attached  a  school,  education  of  the  young 
being  considered  essential.  It  was  the  dawn  of  a  wonder- 
ful revival  of  learning  in  that  most  remote  corner  of  Europe, 
in  the  very  era  of  European  history  known  as  the  dark  and 
middle  ages. 


104 

Was  it  chance,  or  was  it  the  hand  of  God,  that  while 
in  those  sad  days  of  darkness,  ignorance,  bloodshed,  crime, 
priestly  incompetence  and  immorality  throughout  Europe 
the  lamps  of  learning,  idealism,  morality  were  lit  in  far-off 
Spain  by  the  Arabs  and  those  Sephardic  Jews? 

Note  the  hand  of  God  preparing  things  from  far-off 
times,  and  then  see  the  part  in  the  Divine  plan  for  man- 
kind's weal  performed  by  those  Sephardic  Jews  in  Spain, 

The  story  can  be  rapidly  outlined. 

Alexander  the  Great  carried  Greek  language,  Greek 
philosophy,  Greek  art,  Greek  science  into  the  East,  about 
330. 

Justinian  closed  the  schools  in  Athens  in  529.  But  the 
hand  of  God  nevertheless  continued  and  fostered  their  work 
in  Syria.  For  the  teachings  of  those  schools  or  what  we 
term  "Greek  learning"  lived  on.  And  before  those  teach- 
ings could  die  out,  the  Abassid  dynasty  of  Mohammedan 
came  into  power  (750)  and  encouraged  the  translation  of 
Greek  learning  into  Syriac  and  Arabic.  That  meant  their 
perpetuation  of  those  teachings.  Hippocrates  and  Galen  in 
medicine;  Euclid,  Archimedes  and  Ptolemy  in  mathematics 
and  astronomy;  Aristotle,  Theophrastus  and  Alexander  of 
Aphrodisias  in  philosophy,  were  so  translated  and  carried 
by  the  Arabs  into  Spain.  There  they  and  the  Sephardic 
Jews  introduced  this  learning  into  Christian  Europe  through 
the  famous  universities  and  schools  of  the  Arab  and  Sephar- 
dic-Jewish  professors  in  Spain,  and  presently  in  South 
France,  Italy  and  Sicily  and  even  Egypt,  for  those  seats 
of  learning  were  thronged  by  students  from  all  parts  of 
Europe  who  carried  back  to  their  distant  homes,  the  thought- 
seeds  there  planted  in  their  minds. 

The  philosophical  renaissance  in  Latin  Europe  was  due 
to  the  introduction  of  translations  of  Aristotle's  works. 

The  learned  fathers  of  the  Christian  Church,  the  scho- 
lastics, imbibed  much  of  their  wisdom  from  distinctly  Jewish 
writers.  Albertus  Magnus,  Vincent  of  Beauvais,  Thomas 
Aquinas  used  Afer's  translation  of  the  philosophy  of  Isaac 
ben  Solomon  Israeli,  the  Arab-Jew  of  Egypt,  (born  c.855.) 

William  of  Auvergne,  Albertus  Magnus,  Thomas  Aqui- 
nas, Duns  Scotus,  Siger  of  Brabant  studied  the  Mekor  Hayim 


105 

or  Fons  Vitae  of  Solomon,  son  of  Yehudah  Ibn  Gabirol 
(1021-1070).  The  Spanish  Jew,  better  known  as  Avicebron; 
Ibn  Sina,  more  generally  known  as  Avicenna;  Ibn  Roshd, 
better  known  as  Averroes;  Abraham  ben  Hiya  better  known 
as  Savasorda,  (a  corruption  of  the  Arabic  title  Sahib  al  Shor- 
ta),  attest  the  influence  of  Sephardic  Jewish  thought  on  the 
Christian  "intellectuals"  of  their  day. 

And  deeply  did  Albertus  Magnus,  Alexander  of  Hales, 
William  of  Auvergne,  (the  Bishop  of  Paris)  and  Thomas 
Aquinas,  study  the  monumental  work  known  to  us  as  the 
More  Nebuchim  or  "Guide  to  the  Perplexed,"  of  the  great 
Spanish-Jewish  philosopher,  Maimonides.  And  who  has 
not  heard  the  familiar  distich — "Si  Lyrus  non  lyrasset,  Lu- 
therus  non  saltasset" — "If  de  Lyra  had  not  played,  Luther 
would  not  have  danced," — indicating  Sephardic  "Jewish 
thought-influence  on  the  Reformation-movement, — a  move- 
ment which  their  brethren,  the  Ashkenazic"  or  German  Jews, 
promoted  in  no  slight  degree. 

We  are  told  of  writers  on  chronology,  numismatics, 
oratory,  agriculture,  irrigation,  botany,  zoology,  pharmacy, 
medicine,  surgery,  mathematics,  both  arithmetic  and  alge- 
bra, even  quadratics,  trigonometry,  astronomy,  in  that  re- 
markable era  of  the  Arabs  and  Sephardic  Jews  in  Spain. 
I  repeat  they  were,  under  the  hand  of  God,  the  preservers  of 
the  torch  of  learning  in  that  remote  corner  of  Europe  just 
when  Europe  itself  was  in  the  dark  and  medieval  ages. 

Is  it  any  wonder  that  when  presently  some  of  the  de- 
scendants of  these  Jews  of  Spain  found  their  way  to  New- 
port, they  brought  with  them  culture,  enterprise,  commerce? 

Is  it  any  wonder  that  all  the  world  over,  traces  of  this 
era  of  wonderful  mentality  are  evident?  Witness  in  our  or- 
dinary every-day  language  the  many  Arabic  words  intro- 
duced and  commonly  used,  such  as  syrup,  julep,  elixir,  ad- 
miral, alchemy,  alcohol,  algebra,  chemise,  cotton,  cipher, 
carat,  zenith,  the  names  of  stars  on  astronomical  charts,  all 
are  Arabic,  Their  pupils  and  co-workers,  the  Sephardim, 
carried  them  wherever  they  went,  even  as  they  carried  cul- 
ture, enterprise  and  commerce. 

Those  Arabs  and  Jews  taught  geography  from  globes! 
They  used  the  pendulum,  the  astrolabe,  the  mariner's  com- 
pass.    They  made  maritime  discovery  easier. 


106 

From  Barcelona  and  other  ports,  an  immense  trade  was 
carried  on,  mainly  by  Jewish  energy.  In  the  days  of  this 
prosperity  a  thousand  ships,  we  are  told,  carried  trade  to 
far-off  Constantinople  and  the  Black  Sea.  What  wonder 
then,  that  they  brought  commerce  to  Newport  when  they 
came — what  wonder  that  that  Newport  prince-merchant, 
Aaron  Lopez,  had  such  a  fleet  of  shipping,  as  I  shall  presently 
illustrate! 

In  those  days  of  the  Sephardic  golden  age,  the  streets 
of  Cordova  were  paved  and  lighted  with  lamps,  though  Paris 
and  London  had  only  mud-paths,  with  an  occasional  lantern, 
or  no  light  at  all.  Learned  professors  threaded  the  streets 
of  Toledo  and  Seville  while  footpads  made  London  streets 
dangerous  in  those  tenth,  eleventh  and  twelfth  and  even 
later  centuries. 

Houses  or  homes  in  England  and  France  were  cheerless; 
often  a  hole  in  the  roof  was  the  chimney  and  rushes  or 
grass  served  for  carpet — or  there  were  worse  conditions,  a 
cranny  for  chimney,  bare  earth  for  carpet! 

In  Moorish  Spain,  houses  stood  in  wonderful  courtyards, 
hot  and  cold  water  pipes  were  introduced,  and  even  pipes 
to  convey  perfume  from  flower-beds  into  boudoirs  or  ban- 
quet rooms  combined  refinement  with  pleasure  and  conveni- 
ence. 

Music  and  poetry  were  cultivated.  Some  of  the  music 
we  have.     It  is  plaintive,  sweet,  moving. 

The  type  of  Hebrew  poetry  of  the  age  bespeaks  nobility 
of  mind,  lofty  thought,  independence  of  reason,  reverence 
for  God. 

As  the  Christian  power  gained  and  the  Moorish  power 
waned,  the  condition  of  the  Jews  changed  for  the  worse. 
The  very  prosperity  of  the  Jews  begot  extravagance  and 
disloyalty. 

But,  as  always  in  Jewish  history,  Jewish  disloyalty 
meant  Jewish  suffering. 

Persecutions  began.  Vincent  Ferrer,  a  Dominican  Fri- 
ar, Marcus  Rodrigues,  Halorqui  of  Lerea,  an  apostate,  were 
storm-petrels,  who  by  their  preachings  presaged  the  temp- 
est. 

In  1473  all  Andalusia  or  South  Spain,  was  deluged  with 
Jewish  blood. 


107 

In  1481  the  Inquisition  was  established  under  Torque- 
niada.  In  his  eighteen  years  of  othce,  10,220  Jews  were 
burnt  alive;  6,860  were  burnt  in  eliigy,  97,321  were  con- 
demned to  perpetual  imprisonment,  confiscation,  etc. 

On  March  31,  1492  the  full  fury  of  the  tempest  burst. 
The  decree  was  published  that  all  the  Jews  were  to  be  ex- 
pelled from  Spain. 

On  August  30,  the  law  was  enforced  and  Spain  expelled 
her  best  brains. 

Thus  man  wrote  the  record. 

But  the  finger  of  God  wrote  something  else. 

For  on  that  same  April  30,  Columbus  was  ordered  to 
equip  his  fleet  to  sail  Westward. 

On  August  2nd,  the  Jewish  exiles  left  Spain. 

On  August  3rd,  Columbus  sailed,  with  him  at  least  five 
Jews,  de  Torres  as  interpreter,  and  four  mariners,  to  dis- 
cover a  land  destined  to  mean  the  aggrandizement  of  hu- 
manity by  American  Ideals,  American  Energy  and  American 
Enterprise  and  Invention. 

In  all  of  these,  the  Sephardim  Jews  have  played  a  wor- 
thy part  in  the  history  of  America.  But  the  finger  of  God 
has  written  more,  as  we  have  now  discovered. 

For  as  Prof.  Adams  remarks,  "Not  jewels,  but  Jews, 
were  the  real  financial  basis  of  the  first  expedition  of  Colum- 
bus." That  is,  it  is  not  true  that  Queen  Isabella  sold  her 
jewels  to  finance  Columbus.  He  was  financed  by  two  Jews, 
Luis  de  Santangel,  Comptroller  at  one  time  of  the  State  of 
Arragon,  and  Sanchez  of  Saragossa. 

Of  these  Sephardim  exiles  many  went  to  Portugal,  only 
to  be  driven  out  in  a  few  years;  to  South  France,  to  Hol- 
land where  they  helped  "Brave  Little  Holland"  to  free  her- 
self from  Spain's  domination  and  the  Duke  of  Alva's  cruelty, 
and  to  Turkey  where  Sultan  Bajazet  received  them  remark- 
ing how  strange  he  thought  it  that  a  King  should  expel  such 
desirable  subjects! 

Many  of  the  French  refugees  migrated  to  the  West  In- 
dies, and  some  to  Newport  and  New  Amsterdam. 

Many  from  Portugal  went  to  Brazil,  and  when  Brazil 
was  captured  by  the  Portuguese  from  the  Dutch,  they  also 
came  to  Neyvport  and  New  Amsterdam. 


108 

Many  from  Holland  went  to  New  Amsterdam,  that  being 
a  Dutch  settlement.  Now  Turkish  refugees  have  begun  to 
come  here,  but  only  in  the  last  score  of  years.  There  are 
probably  25,000  in  America.  Ten  years  ago  there  were  not 
500.  Many  speak  the  old  Spanish  of  1492;  some  speak  Greek 
and  some  speak  Arabic  as  their  home  language.  They  are 
descendants  of  those  Sephardic  or  Spanish  Jews  who,  when 
expelled  from  Spain  in  1492,  found  refuge  in  Turkey,  as  I 
stated  a  moment  ago. 

In  the  spring  of  1658,  says  Peterson  in  his  history  of 
Rhode  Island,  "Mordecai  Campanal  and  Moses  Packeckoe 
(or  Pacheco)  arrived  in  Newport  with  fifteen  others.  It 
is  said  they  introduced  Free  Masonry,  (three  degrees). 

The  spirit  of  Roger  Williams  assured  them  welcome,  for 
he  had  said  "I  desire  not  that  liberty  to  myself  which  I  would 
not  freely  and  impartially  weigh  out  to  all  the  consciences  of 
the  world  besides.  All  these  Consciences,  yea,  the  very  Con- 
sciences of  the  Papists,  Jews,  etc.  .  .  .  ought  freely  and  im- 
partially to  be  permitted  their  several  respective  worships 
and  what  of  maintaining  them,  they  freely  choose." 

They  increased  in  numbers,  and  in  prosperity  soon  made 
headway  because  of  their  culture,  strict  integrity  and  respect 
for  their  religion. 

Governor  Cozzens  on  20  May,  1863,  in  a  public  speech, 
said  "Retween  1750-1760  some  hundreds  of  wealthy  Israel- 
ites, a  most  distinguished  class  of  merchants,  removed  here 
from  Spain,  Portugal,  Jamaica  and  other  places,  and  en- 
tered largely  into  business.  One  of  them,  Mr.  Aaron  Lopez, 
owned  a  large  fleet  of  vessels,  rising  30  at  one  time  in  the 
foreign  trade  and  many  more  in  the  coasting  trade.*  The 
order-boxes  or  pigeon-holes,  as  we  sometimes  call  them,  with 
the  names  of  his  vessels  upon  them,  are  still  to  be  seen  in  one 
of  the  old  stores  on  the  Lopez  (now  Finch  and  Engs) 
wharf."  t 

The  manufacture  of  sperm-oil  and  candles  $  was  intro- 
duced into  Newport  by  Jews  from  Lisbon  1745-50. 


*A  strange  chance  placed  a  quantity  of  Aaron  Lopez's  papers  in  my 
hands  the  day  after  this  lecture.  For  "the  largest  fleet  of  vessels"  see 
Note  at  end  of  this  essay. 

tSee  Note. 

J  See  Note. 


109 

In  1760,  they  had  in  Newport,  seventeen  factories  for 
these;  twenty-two  distilleries,  four  sugar  refineries,  five  rope- 
walks,  many  furniture  factories  supplying  New  York,  West 
Indies,  Surinam,  etc. 

They  certainly  meant  Energy,  Enterprise  and  Invention 
in  Newport,  then  a  most  important  city,  commercially. 

In  1770,  eighteen  vessels  arrived  in  one  day  from  the 
West  Indies.  It  is  on  record  that  on  one  occasion,  the  good 
citizens  were  awakened  to  further  progressiveness,  by  being 
warned  that  New  York  might  outstrip  them ! 

The  Lisbon  earthquake  in  1755  brought  some  accessions 
to  the  Jewish  community. 

In  that  year,  Ezra  Stiles,  well  known  today  as  a  notable 
President  of  Yale,  wrote  to  a  friend  in  Birmingham,  Eng- 
land, "There  are  fifteen  Jewish  families  in  Newport.  They 
have  no  minister."  He  must  have  been  wrong  about  the  num- 
ber, for  we  know  the  names  of  many  more.  (See  note  in 
Appendix.) 

Three  years  later,  the  Rev.  Isaac  Touro  arrived  from 
Jamaica  to  be  the  minister.  He  speedily  quickened  the  spir- 
itual life;  for  on  the  first  of  August,  1759,  only  one  year  after 
his  arrival,  the  foundation  of  the  synagogue  was  laid  in 
Griffin  Street,  now  Touro  Street,  and  on  Friday,  the  Second 
of  December,  1763  it  was  dedicated.  Many  members  of  the 
sister-congregation  in  New  York,  of  which  I  have  the  honor 
of  being  minister,  journeyed  from  New  York  for  the  Conse- 
cration, some  of  them  and  the  Congregation  itself  having 
contributed  towards  the  cost  of  erection. 

The  Rev.  Isaac  Touro  proved  himself  a  faithful  shep- 
herd during  his  all  too  short  pastorate.  He  was  a  learned 
Hebrew  scholar.  It  was  through  him  and  later,  through 
Rabbi  Haim  Isaac  Carigal  of  Jerusalem,  that  the  above-men- 
tioned Rev.  Ezra  Stiles,  then  Presbyterian  Minister  residing 
in  Newport,  derived  his  own  Hebrew  knowledge.  A  close 
friendship  existed  between  these  three,  and  Dr.  Stiles  in  his 
diary,  frequently  alludes  to  them,  to  his  friendly  relations 
with  them,  to  visits  to  the  synagogue,  etc. 

In  1775  he  left  for  a  visit  to  his  native  land.  Probably 
the  outbreak  of  the  great  war  with  England  prevented  an 
early  return  as  intended.  Death  intervened  and  prevented  it 


110 

forever.  His  two  sons,  Abraham  and  Judah,  had  been  left 
in  Newport,  but  on  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  were  taken  to 
Boston  by  their  uncle,  Moses  Michael  Hays.  His  piety, 
learning  and  modesty,  his  realization  of  his  responsibilities 
as  minister,  his  zeal  in  the  promotion  of  the  spiritual  life  of 
his  flock,  his  close  friendship  with  Christians  of  the  stand- 
ing of  Dr.  Stiles,  combined  with  inherent  culture  which  re- 
flects the  conditions  of  that  Golden  Age,  the  era  of  the 
Jews  under  Arabic  auspices,  gained  for  him  general  re- 
spect. 

It  was  by  holding  up  these  conditions  of  true  citizenship, 
that  the  Sephardic  Jews  brought  to  this  country,  into  its  na- 
tional as  well  as  its  commercial  and  social  life,  the  elements 
which  best  secure  a  nation's  prosperity  and  well-being.  For 
with  energy,  enterprise,  invention,  industry  and  commer- 
cial ability,  those  early  Sephardic  Jews  of  Newport  preached 
by  life  and  example  the  three  great,  the  three  greatest,  R's, 
"Reverence,  Righteousness  and  Responsibility."  Without 
these  three  "greatest"  R's,  no  nation  lives! 

When  the  Revolutionary  War  broke  out,  to  quote  the 
Rev.  Frederick  Dennison  who  lectured  on  the  Jews  of  New- 
port before  the  R.  I.  Veterans  Association,  (Dec.  7,  1885), 
"The  Jews  were  friends  of  the  Colonies  in  the  Revolutionary 
struggle.  They  gave  liberally  of  their  means  to  sustain  the 
patriot  cause.  In  some  cases  they  served  in  the  continental 
armies." 

One  of  the  Lopez  family  is  said  to  have  exclaimed  to 
the  American  recruiting  sergeant  who  had  rejected  him  be- 
cause he  was  too  old,  "I  am  not  too  old  to  stop  a  British 
bullet!" 

A  member  of  my  congregation  in  New  York  still  has 
the  original  autograph  letter  of  George  Washington  to  the 
Jews  of  Newport,  and  I  have  a  photographed  copy  in  my 
study,  acknowledging  the  loyalty  of  the  Jews  of  Newport  in 
the  highest  terms.  And  other  Jewish  communities  in  other 
iowns  received  similar  acknowledgement. 

Newport's  commercial  supremacy  was  ruined  by  the 
war.  Aaron  Lopez,  the  most  prominent  Jewish  citizen,  lost 
many  a  ship  by  British  privateers.  The  family  of  Lopez, 
Biviera  (cousin)   A.  Pereira  Mendes,   (son-in-law)   went  to 


Ill 

Leicester :  the  Hays  family  to  Boston :  the  Seixas  family  to 
New  York.  Their  names  are  identified  with  the  establish- 
ment of  Free-Masonry  in  Rhode  Island,  the  founding  of  the 
Redwood  Library  and  the  Leicester  Academy;  they  contrib- 
uted to  Trinity  chimes,  they  were  honored  with  trusteeship 
of  Long  Whar.f  Their  record  is  a  proud  one.  Not  once 
did  they  figure  in  any  court  in  any  civic  dispute.  (See  Ap- 
pendix *).  Not  one  indictment  appears  against  them  in 
court  records. 

The  Jewish  community  dwindled  away  gradually.  In 
1818  but  three  were  left  and  I  have  their  pathetic  letter  to 
my  congregation  asking  us  to  take  charge  of  their  sacred 
scrolls,  thus  making  us  the  guardians  of  their  affairs,  as  in 
deed  we  naturally  would  be,  by  common  ancestry,  history 
and  traditions,  besides  kinship. 

A  few  years  later  the  Newport  civic  authorities  wrote  to 
our  congregation  in  New  York,  as  the  Guardians,  to  repair 
the  wall  or  fence  of  the  Synagogue  plot,  which  was  done.  1 
have  the  minutes  of  our  congregational  action  recording  this.. 

The  Synagogue  remained  closed  for  many  years,  the 
building  and  the  burial  ground  sustained  by  munificent  be- 
quests of  the  brothers  ,  Abraham  and  Judah  Touro,  sons  of 
the  former  minister,  the  Rev.  Isaac  Touro.-  (See  Appendix 
VI.) 

On  the  20th  December,  1882,  the  Trustees  of  the  Syna- 
gogue in  New  York  extended  a  call  to  my  honored  father,  the 
Rev.  A.  Pereira  Mendes,  Head  of  a  Collegiate  Institution  in 
London  and  acting  Ecclesiastical  Chief  of  the  Sephardic 
Jews  of  that  city,  to  take  the  spiritual  charge  of  a  few  Jews 
who  had  recently  settled  in  Newport.  Their  action  was 
taken  in  response  to  the  City  Council's  referring  those  new 
settlers  who  wished  to  use  the  old  building,  to  the  New  York 
Congregation. 

The  new  minister  duly  arrived,  and  maintained  the  high 
ideals  of  the  old  settlers.  He  established  the  traditional 
Ritual  which  he  rendered  with  all  its  dignity  and  charm, 
winning  to  it  the  new  settlers,  whose  ritual,  Hebrew  pronun- 
ciation, melodies  and  customs  were  different,  being  Ashkens- 
zic  not  Sephardic. 

Of  naturally  scholarly  instincts,  he  became  known  to 


112 

Newport  leaders  of  scholarly  culture.  He  lectured  for  the 
general  Newport  public  on  Jewish  subjects,  such  as  "The 
Talmud";  for  the  Rhode  Island  Historical  Society  on  "The 
Old  Jewish  Cemetery,"  transcribing  and  translating  the  old 
inscriptions  from  the  Hebrew  or  Spanish  or  Portuguese  or 
Latin  into  English;  and  he  gave  Hebrew  instruction  to  any 
members  of  the  Christian  clergy  who  would  go  to  him. 

The  new  community  grew  but  slowly. 

He  passed  away  to  his  eternal  sleep  in  1893. 

His  name,  inscribed  on  a  mural  tablet  in  the  Synagogue, 
attests  the  love  and  respect  of  the  little  community,  but  his 
name  lives  yet  in  the  hearts  of  all  who  today  remeinber  his 
ministrations,  his  quiet  geniality,  his  courtliness,  his  loyalty 
to  the  highest  ideals  of  Jewish  and  civic  culture,  his  life  expo- 
sition of  all  that  adorned  the  traditions  of  the  Sephardic 
Jews  of  Newport  and  of  the  world. 

This  is  the  story  of  the  Sephardic  Jews.  Summed  up,  it 
is  a  story  of  effort  to  carry  out  the  ideals  of  God,  to  promote 
culture,  to  energize  industry,  but  all  on  the  lines  of  the  three 
greatest  R's,  "Reverence,  Righteousness  and  Responsibility." 

And  the  two  Sephardic  Jewish  ministers  of  the  old  New- 
port Synagogue,  the  Rev.  Isaac  Touro  and  the  Rev.  Abraham 
Pereira  Mendes  were  true  exemplars  of  the  best  Sephardic 
Jewish  traditions. 


Note— Aaron  Lopez's  ships.  In  one  bill  alone  of  Aaron  Lopez,  dated 
1765,  rendered  to  him  by  Geo.  H.  Peckham,  I  find  mentioned  the  Betty 
(sloop) ;  Three  Sallys  (Sloop) ;  Charlotte  (brigantine) ;  America  (ship) ; 
Guineman  (ship) ;  in  my  papers,  I  have  twenty-nine  names  on  one  slip,  and 
several  other  lists  in  other  memos. 

Note— Finch  and  Engs  Wharf.  I  was  fortunate  enough  to  obtain  a  bit 
of  an  old  Lopez-desk  some  years  ago  when  in  Newport. 

Note— The  manufacture  of  candles.  The  beautiful  candelabra  in  the 
Newport  synagogue  attest  the  number  of  candles  used  to  illumine  even 
,one  edifice. 

Appendix.    The  will  of  Judah  Touro  is  a  marvel.    He  left  large  sums 
^of  money  to  Christian  as  well  as  Jewish  charitable  institutions. 


REV.  GEORGE  WHITEFIELD 


A  Paper  read  before  the  Newport  Historical  Society 
January  2,  1917 


By 
Rev.  WILLIAM   I.  WARD 


George  Whitefield  in  Newport 

Within  a  comparatively  recent  period  of  time  the  at- 
tention of  the  American  people  has  been  freshly  called  to 
the  English  clergyman,  George  Whitefield,  who,  by  reason 
of  his  evangelistic  impulse,  impassioned  eloquence  and  un- 
remitting zeal,  was,  a  century  and  a  half  ago,  at  the  zenith 
of  a  remarkable  career  as  a  Christian  preacher.  Just  a  few 
years  ago  Charles  Silvester  Home,  a  justly  famed  preacher 
of  London,  delivered  at  Yale  University,  on  the  Lyman 
Beecher  foundation,  an  illuminating  course  of  lectures  to 
which  he  gave  the  title,  "The  Romance  of  Preaching."  In 
one  of  the  lectures  he  spoke  at  length  of  Mr.  Whitefield  as 
a  notable  exemplar  of  the  passion  of  evangelism  and  said  of 
him  that  it  is  he  "who  as  pointedly  raises,  for  the  student 
of  oratory  and  its  permanent  effect,  the  problem  of  emo- 
tional preaching."  To  the  large  number  of  Americans  who 
heard  these  lectures,  and  to  the  larger  number  who  have 
read  them,  Mr.  Home  described  Mr.  Whitefield  as  a  preach- 
er "facing  the  multitudes  under  God's  sky,  with  the  heavens 
for  a  sounding  board,  the  hillside  for  a  meeting  house,  and 
some  rude  boulder  for  a  pulpit";  and  as  having  a  "splendid 
energy  expressing  itself  in  the  fold  and  sweep  of  his  robes, 
and  a  passion  for  souls  in  his  kindled  countenance,  his  flash- 
ing eye,  and  the  tender  solemn  tones  of  his  voice." 

Shortly  after  these  lectures  had  been  delivered  and  pub- 
lished the  two  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  birth  of  George 
Whitefield  occurred.  This  was  in  December,  1914.  At  dif- 
ferent places  in  our  country,  and  in  various  ways,  the  an- 
niversary was  observed  and  attention  called  to  the  fact  that, 
during  a  period  of  thirty  years,  he  was  an  active  factor  in 
the  religious  history  of  America  as  well  as  of  England.  He 
visited  all  the  American  colonies,  from  New  Hampshire  to 
Georgia.  Twice  he  came  to  Newport.  This  fact  is  our  jus- 
tification for  making  extended  reference  to  him  under  the 
auspices  of  this  Historical  Society. 


116 

Because  of  his  great  religious  fervor,  his  intense  niis- 
sonary  zeal,  his  extraordinary  powers  of  oratory  and  his 
marked  evangelistic  ardor  Mr.  Whitefield  became  conspicu- 
ous among  the  illustrious  Christian  preachers  of  the  world. 
As  a  result  of  his  distinguished  devotion  to  his  calling  and 
of  his  prodigious  labors  in  his  native  land  and  also  in  this 
new  world,  to  which  he  opened  his  heart  widely,  the  people 
of  our  tongue  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic  gave  him  earnest 
and  responsive  hearing.  He  was  an  ordained  minister  of 
the  Church  of  England.  With  the  Wesleys  and  several 
others  he  shared  membership  in  the  Holy  Club  of  Oxford, 
and  he  was  thoroughly  sympathetic  with  its  spirit  of  warm 
personal  devotion  and  eager  religious  activity.  Thus  he 
helped  earn  the  derisive  title  "Methodist"  and  was  justly 
classed  with  those  who  first  bore  the  title.  We  may  as  well 
add  that  he  helped,  not  a  little,  to  win  honor  for  the  title. 
He  did  not,  however,  accept  the  Arminian  type  of  theology. 
Holding  in  this  respect  with  the  Calvinists  he  had  distinct 
affiliation  with  that  body  of  dissenters  who  believed  and 
taught  the  tenets  of  the  Genevan  scholar.  Thus  it  is  seen 
that  he  had  belongings  with  several  bodies  of  religious  lead- 
ers; and  so  it  may  be  argued  that  he  was  too  large  a  per- 
sonality to  be  bound  to  any  one  of  such  bodies  or,  on  the 
other  hand,  that  he  was  too  indefinite  in  his  thinking  to  ally 
himself  with  either  one  of  them.  Certainly  the  facts  prove 
that  no  one  of  them  can  lay  exclusive  claim  to  him. 

George  Whitefield  was  born  in  the  English  city  of  Glou- 
cester, at  the  Bell  Inn,  in  Southgate  street,  in  the  month  of 
December,  1714.  His  father,  who  was  the  keeper  of  the  tavern, 
died  about  two  years  later.  His  mother,  who  continued  to 
keep  the  inn,  was  careful  about  his  education  and  sought 
to  keep  him  from  too  close  contact  with  the  tavern  business. 
Nevertheless  he  gave  her,  for  a  year  or  two,  after  he  had 
passed  his  fifteenth  year,  considerable  assistance  in  the  care 
of  the  house.  Already  he  had  spent  three  years  in  the 
grammar  school  conducted  by  a  church  in  the  city.  Here 
he  had  developed  a  thirst  for  knowledge  and  so  much  in- 
terest in  dramatic  studies,  as  well  as  talent  in  this  direction, 
that  the  master  of  the  school  chose  him  to  make  the  annual 
speech  before  the  corporation  of  the  city.     A  little  later  he 


117 

entered  Pembroke  College,  Oxford,  earning  his  way  for  a 
part  of  the  time  by  working  as  a  servant  in  the  College. 
While  he  was  there  his  most  intimate  fellowships  were  with 
the  more  religious  members  of  the  university.  When  he 
was  but  twenty-one  years  of  age,  two  years  earlier  than  was 
customarily  allowed  by  the  church,  he  was  ordained  a  dea- 
son,  in  his  native  city  of  Gloucester,  by  Bishop  Benson  who, 
two  years  or  more  later,  ordained  him  to  the  priesthood  at 
Oxford.  It  is  said  that  the  Bishop,  becoming  displeased  be- 
cause of  some  of  Whitefield's  activities,  expressed  regret 
that  he  had  ordained  him;  but  that  he  subsequently  took  a 
different  view  of  the  matter  and,  "when  upon  his  death  bed, 
sent  for  Whitefield,  besought  him  to  remember  him  in  his 
prayers  and  gave  him  money  for  the  support  of  his  work." 

Through  the  influence  of  the  Wesleys  Mr.  Whitefield 
became  interested  in  the  colony  of  Georgia.  He  collected 
funds  for  the  support  of  the  colony  and  he  made  his 
first  voyage  across  the  Atlantic  to  visit  it.  Noticing  many 
needy  orphans  in  Georgia  he  established  an  asylum  for  them 
and  carried  their  cause  very  close  to  his  heart  until  the  end 
of  his  life.  This  trip  to  America  was  repeated  six  times  and 
as  often  as  he  came  he  zealously  endeavored  to  do  good. 
Since  he  was  primarily  an  evangelist  his  chief  work  was  to 
quicken,  by  his  earnest  and  persuasive  preaching,  the  re- 
ligious and  spiritual  life  of  the  people. 

But  there  are  other  abiding  marks  of  his  helpful  influ- 
ence in  this  country.  He  gave  assistance  to  Harvard  Col- 
lege, aiding  in  replenishing  its  library  after  it  was  burned  in 
1764.  He  gave  encouragement  to  the  Indian  school  at  Leba- 
non, New  Hampshire,  which  afterward  became  Dartinouth 
College,  raised  money  for  it  and  interested  his  friend,  Lord 
Dartmouth  in  it.  He  secured  funds  in  Scotland  with  which 
to  help  establish  Princeton  College  and  he  gave  help  to  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania  in  its  early  stages. 

From  his  seventh  and  last  trip  to  America  he  did  not  re- 
turn. The  days  of  this  visit  were  destined  to  be  his  clos- 
ing days  upon  earth  and  he  was  soon  to  find,  here  in  New 
England,  the  resting  place  for  his  body. 

It  was  during  his  second  visit  to  America  that  Mr. 
Whitefield  was  invited  to  come  to  New  England.     Respond- 


118 

ing  to  the  invitation  he  seems  to  have  made  Newport  his 
port  of  entry.  He  arrived  here  in  September,  1740,  passing, 
after  a  brief  stay,  to  Boston  and  to  other  points  farther  north, 
thence  westward  to  Northampton,  Massachusetts,  and  then 
to  New  Haven,  Connecticut. 

Newport  became  aware  of  the  approach  of  the  stirring 
evangehstic  preacher.  News  preceded  him  as  to  the  criti- 
cisms which  were  made  upon  his  pubHc  ministrations,  criti- 
cisms such  as  no  preacher  of  his  type  has  ever  escaped. 
One  of  the  churches  of  the  town,  the  Second  Congregation- 
ahst,  whose  location  was  that  of  the  present  place  of  wor- 
ship of  the  Second  Baptist  Church,  thought  it  wise  to  declare 
itself  in  advance  of  his  coming.  It  therefore  passed  a  for- 
mal vote  saying  "that  as  Beverend  George  Whitefield  is  ex- 
pected in  town  speedily,  and  as  his  preaching  in  many  other 
places  has  caused  great  contentions  and  divisions  in  many 
churches,  this  meeting  house  be  shut  against  said  Whitefield, 
and  he  be  not  suffered  to  preach  in  it."  This  was  not,  how- 
ever, the  unanimous  or  the  prevailing  sentiment  with  refer- 
ence to  the  distinguishd  visitor.  The  pastor  of  the  First 
Congregational  Church,  the  Beverend  Nathaniel  Clapp, 
greeted  him  cordially  and  went  with  him  to  call  upon  the 
Beverend  James  Honeyman,  rector  of  Trinity  Church.  Mr. 
Honeyman  granted  the  use  of  this  church  for  a  two  days' 
meeting.  Twice  on  each  of  these  days,  morning  and  after- 
noon, the  people  crowded  into  the  church  to  listen;  and 
after  the  close  of  the  last  service  a  thousand  persons  fol- 
lowed the  preacher  to  his  lodgings  where  he  stood  at  the 
door  and  preached  to  them  on  "hungering  and  thirsting  after 
righteousness." 

It  seems  very  likely  that  Mr.  Whitefield  w^as  readily  admit- 
ted to  the  pulpit  of  Trinity  Church  by  reason  of  the  fact  that 
he  had  been  fully  ordained  in  the  Church  of  England.  And 
when  we  remember  that  the  Second  Congregational  Church 
had  been  organized  because  of  strong  dissatisfaction  with 
Mr.  Clapp's  administration  as  pastor  of  the  First  Church,  it 
seems  not  impossible  that  Mr.  Clapp's  courtesy  to  Mr.  White- 
field  may  have  been  stimulated,  to  some  extent,  by  the  ac- 
tion of  the  Second  Church.  Certainly  the  large  audience 
which  gathered  to  hear  the  preacher  showed  that  the  people 


119 

of  Newport  were  fully  as  responsive  to  his  eloquent  oratory 
as  those  in  other  places. 

It  was  thirty  years  later  when  the  famous  preacher  was 
in  Newport  for  the  second  time.  Dr.  Samuel  Hopkins,  who 
became  pastor  of  the  First  Congregational  Church  in  1770, 
having  heard  him  preach  in  New  Haven,  was  pleased  with 
him  and  apf)roved  him.  On  the  third  day  of  August,  four 
months  after  his  installation,  he  received  Mr.  Whitefield  as 
guest  in  his  home,  the  parsonage  on  Division  Street.  At 
five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  the  next  day  the  noted  evan- 
gelist preached  in  Dr.  Hopkins'  meeting  house  on  Mill 
Street  to  an  audience  which  crowded  the  building,  using 
the  text  "Take  not  thy  holy  spirit  from  me."  It  is  reported 
that  a  young  Jew^ess  who  heard  him  at  this  time  greatly  ad- 
mired his  preaching  of  the  gospel  of  Christ.  The  following 
day  was  Sunday.  In  the  morning  he  preached  for  Dr.  Ezra 
Stiles,  in  the  church  whose  doors  had  been  closed  against 
him  at  the  time  of  his  earlier  visit.  His  text  at  this  time  was 
"Acquaint  now  thyself  with  God  and  be  at  peace."  At  six 
o'clock  in  the  evening  he  preached  in  the  field  close  by  Dr. 
Hopkins'  meeting  house  using  as  a  text  "Other  foundation 
can  no  man  lay  than  that  is  laid  which  is  Jesus  Christ."  A 
company  of  from  one  thousand  to  fifteen  hundred  persons 
listened  to  this  sermon.  Dr.  Edwards  A.  Park,  from  whose 
"Memoir  of  Samuel  Hopkins,"  we  glean  many  of  the  facts 
here  recited,  says,  referring  to  this  occasion,  "He  stood 
while  preaching  on  a  table  which  is  still  reverently  pre- 
served." Two  days  later  he  preached  at  five  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon  in  the  Baptist  meeting  house  where  Mr.  Thurston 
was  minister.  Thirteen  hundred  people  were  said  to  have 
been  within  the  building  to  listen  while  four  or  five  hundred 
more  stood  outside.  On  the  next  morning,  at  six  o'clock,  he 
preached  once  more  in  the  First  Congregational  Church 
taking  the  second  verse  of  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis  as 
his  text. 

Dr.  William  Patten,  who  was  at  a  later  period,  pastor 
of  the  Second  Congregational  Church  and  who  wrote  a 
little  book  on  the  life  of  Dr.  Hopkins,  gives  an  account  of 
Mr.  Whitefield's  second  visit  in  Newport,  which  varies  slight- 
ly from  the  one  found  in  the  larger  book  written  by  Dr.  Park. 


120 

He  states  that  the  preaching  in  the  field  occurred  on  the 
morning  of  the  Sabbath  instead  of  in  the  late  afternoon. 
Since  Dr.  Park  gives  the  story  of  the  whole  day  and  writes, 
upon  the  whole,  with  greater  fulness  of  circumstances,  it 
seems  probable  that  his  statement  is  the  correct  one.  But 
some  of  Dr.  Patten's  comments  are  very  interesting.  Speak- 
ing of  the  preacher  he  says  "A  gentleman  present  informed 
the  writer  that  he  exceeded  any  man  he  had  ever  heard  in 
oratory  and  in  representing  to  the  life  everything  of  which 
he  spoke.  Though  he  stood  upon  a  table  he  appeared  by 
his  movements  and  gestures  to  be  in  no  want  of  room. 
When  he  read  the  psalm  appeared  new  to  him  and  he 
could  scarcely  believe  he  had  ever  read  or  seen  it.  When  he 
prayed  it  was  in  accents  so  earnest  and  winning  that  he 
looked  up  to  see  if  the  Holy  Spirit,  whose  presence  he  in- 
voked, were  not  visible  in  the  form  of  a  dove."  Evidently 
New  England,  proverbially  cold  and  critical,  was  not  un- 
moved by  this  fervent  messenger  of  the  gospel.  But  this 
further  comment  is  made:  "Except  in  cheering  and  excit- 
ing the  saints  there  was  little  apparent  spiritual  benefit  from 
these  labors.  Many  admired  his  oratory,  his  manner  and  his 
conversation;  but  only  a  few,  if  any,  were  brought  under 
conviction  of  sin  and  to  repentance."  In  the  spirit  of  fair- 
ness the  writer  further  remarks  that  it  was  characteristic 
of  Newport  to  be  slow  in  responding  to  any  definite  religious 
appeal. 

Dr.  Patten  further  records  that  Dr.  Hopkins  said  he  was 
persuaded  of  Mr.  Whitefield's  piety  and  eminent  success  in 
awakening  sinners  and  bringing  many  to  Christ;  but  that 
his  early  education  and  his  itinerant  manner  of  life  as  a 
preacher  limited  his  opportunities  for  thorough  investigation 
as  to  subjects  of  doctrinal  and  experimental  religion.  Con- 
sequently he  was  not  as  consistent  and  instructive  as  he 
might  otherwise  have  been;  and,  in  his  early  ministry,  he 
was  sometimes  rash  in  his  censures,  especially  with  refer- 
ence to  ministers  who  did  not  agree  with  him.  This  fault  in 
Mr.  Whitefield,  which  Dr.  Hopkins  pointed  out  so  definitely 
is  by  no  means  uncommon.  Eager  evangelists,  even  to  our 
own  day,  have  often  exhibited  this  weakness. 

It  is  quite  evident  that  Mr.  Whitefield  did  not  lack  for 


121 

open  hospitality  when  he  made  his  second  visit  to  our  city. 
How  general  was  the  cordial  feeling  toward  him  was,  per- 
haps, indicated  by  a  social  event  which  occurred  on  the  last 
day  of  his  stay  in  Newport.  He  dined  that  day  at  the  home 
of  John  Wanton,  a  member  of  the  Society  of  Friends;  and 
with  him  were  Drs.  Hopkins  and  Stiles,  the  Congregation- 
alist  minsters,  Mr.  Thurston,  the  Baptist  preacher,  and  Mr. 
Rusmeyer,  the  pastor  of  the  Moravian  congregation  in  New- 
port. 

We  have  noticed  no  reference  to  the  Episcopal  Church 
or  its  rector  in  connection  with  Mr.  Whitefield's  second  visit. 
If  it  be  true,  as  might  seem  to  be  implied,  that  this  church, 
whose  doors  were  promptly  opened  to  him  thirty  years  be- 
fore, did  not  now  publicly  recognize  him,  it  should  be  re- 
membered that  he  had  doubtless  become  during  this  period 
of  lime,  quite  separated,  in  his  public  activities,  from  the 
church  in  which  he  had  received  his  early  training  and  or- 
dination lo  ilic  Christian  ministry.Much  of  his  public  work 
had  been  done  in  connection  with  the  dissenting  bodies. 
During  the  early  part  of  the  period  he  had  been  in  close 
sympathy  with  the  Wesleys  out  of  whose  work  grew  the 
largest  of  the  non-conformist  bodies;  and  he  never  ceased, 
no  matter  how  much  he  differed  from  them  in  some  matters, 
to  agree  with  them  as  to  their  reasons  for  undertaking  re- 
ligious work  independently  of  the  Established  Church  of 
England.  He  had  been  one  of  the  leaders  in  the  doctrinal 
controversy  which  resulted  in  the  organization  of  one  of 
the  smallp-r  denominational  churches  in  England  and  Wales. 
He  had  also  become  the  head  of  an  independent  church  in 
London  which,  to  this  day,  bears  his  name  and  is  one  of  the 
strongholds  of  English  Congregationalism.  In  view  of  the 
intense  feeling  which  was  characteristic  of  doctrinal  and  ec- 
clesiastical controversies  at  that  period  it  is  not  strange  if 
the  Church  of  England  and  her  American  daughter  suffered 
him  to  come  and  go  unnoticed. 

There  is  reason  to  believe  that  Mr.  Whitefield's  ministry 
in  Newport  w^as  not  without  some  permanent  influence. 
Some  evidence  to  this  effect  is  associated  with  the  memory 
of  a  woman  who  was,  for  many  years,  a  notable  person  in 
the  religious  life  of  the  place,  Mrs.   Sarah   Osborne.     She 


122 

was  a  young  woman  when  he  made  his  first  appearance 
here.  In  the  published  account  of  the  earHer  portion  of 
her  life,  which  was  written  by  herself,  she  refers  to  him  say- 
ing "In  September,  1740,  God  in  His  mercy  sent  His  dear 
servant  Whitefield  here,"  and  it  is  recorded  that  his  preach- 
ing greatly  impressed  her  and  led  her  to  a  deeper  religious 
consecration.  Not  long  afterw^ard  she  formed  some  of  the 
women  of  the  church  into  an  organized  body,  which  was 
later  known  as  the  "Osborne  Society,"  for  the  cultivation  of 
the  religious  life.  A  weekly  devotional  meeting  was  held; 
and  one  of  its  members  was  said  to  be  so  gifted  in  prayer 
that  "she  could  pray  for  an  hour  and  a  half  without  in  any 
way  repeating  herself  and  without  anyone  being  weary." 

When  Mr.  Whitefield  was  in  Newport  for  the  second 
time  the  American  colonists  were  growing  restless  under 
what  they  held  to  be  the  oppression  of  the  mother  country 
and  the  time  of  revolt  was  drawing  near.  It  is  interesting 
to  know  that  Mr..  Whitefield  sympathized  with  the  colonists 
and  expressed  his  sympathy  warmly  although  the  movement 
which  culminated  in  the  war  for  American  independence 
was  but  begun  when  he  died.  When  the  storm  of  conflict 
broke  Newport  suffered  greatly,  indeed  w^as  almost  ruined. 
Nearly  five  hundred  private  dwelling  houses  were  destroyed. 
Church  buildings,  with  some  well  known  exceptions,  were 
torn  down  or  seized  for  use  by  the  English  army.  Drs. 
Hopkins  and  Stiles,  pastors  of  the  two  Congi^egational 
Churches,  both  of  whom  spoke  boldly  and  strongly  in  favor 
of  independence,  were  virtually  driven  out  of  town  Neither 
of  their  congregations  could  hold  public  worship  or  carry 
forward  the  usual  activities  of  a  Christian  Church.  But  Mrs. 
Osborne  was  still  living  and  full  of  good  works.  She  had  the 
respect  of  the  British  soldiers  who  spoke  of  her  as  "the  good 
woman."  Her  home  was  among  those  which  was  spared 
destruction,  and  in  that  home  was  held  the  weekly  prayer 
meeting  of  the  society  which  she  had  organized,  the  only 
visible  thread  of  life  in  the  Congregational  body  during  sev- 
eral troubled  years.  Thus  the  influence  of  Mr.  Whitefield's 
preaching  may  have  had  much  to  do  with  saving  an  im- 
portant Christian  organization  from  destruction  at  a  very 
critical  period  in  the  life  of  our  city. 


123 

Allusion  has  been  made  to  the  fact  that  Mr.  Whitefield 
stood  upon  a  table  when  he  preached  in  the  field  near  the 
First  Congregational  Church.  Of  this  table  we  may  say 
now,  as  Dr.  Park  said  many  years  ago,  it  "is  still  reverently 
preserved."  It  is  now  the  property  of  the  United  Congrega- 
tional Church  to  whom  it  was  given  by  Dr.  Thatcher  Thayer 
some  forty  years  after  he  came  to  Newport  to  become  pastor 
of  the  Church.  It  is  circular  in  form  and  is  about  three  feet 
in  diameter.  The  top  is  solid  mahogany  and  is  made  in 
three  sections.  Two  of  these  sections  are  attached  by  hinges 
to  the  third  and  central  part  and  they  form  leaves  which 
may  be  turned  down  on  the  sides.  The  top  is  supported  by 
four  curved  legs  two  of  which  are  so  connected  with  the 
frame  that  they  may  be  swung  outwardly,  one  on  either  side, 
as  supports  for  the  leaves  when  they  are  extended.  The 
upper  surface  of  the  table  has  been  smoothed  and  polished, 
but  the  under  side  is  still  somewhat  rough.  A  sheet  of  paper 
is  attached  to  the  under  side  of  the  table  top,  covered  with 
glass  which  is  framed  with  narrow  moulding.  On  the  paper 
is  the  following  inscription : 

This  table  was  given  to  me  by  Miss  Philadelphia 
EMery,  toward  the  end  of  her  life.  It  was  given  to 
her  by  her  father,  William  Ellery,  one  of  the 
signers  of  the  Declaration  ol"  Independence,  who 
stated  to  her  that  Whitefield  preached  standing 
upon  it. 

THATCHER  THAYER. 
To  Dr.  Thomas  Wood. 

July,  1883. 

Dr.  Wood,  to  whom  this  note  was  addressed,  was  the 
clerk  of  the  United  Congregational  Church  at  the  time  when 
the  gift  was  made.  William  F^llery,  one  of  whose  descend- 
ants is  now  a  resident  of  Newport,  was  a  worshipper  at  the 
Second  Church. 

The  table  is  not  the  only  visible  memorial  in  the  city, 
of  Mr.  Whitefield.  At  least  four  buildings  in  which  he  spent 
.some  time  are  still  standing.     These  are  Trinity  Church,  the 


124 

Second  Baptist  Church,  which  was  originally  the  Second 
Congregational  Church,  the  building  on  Mill  Street  which 
was  erected  as  a  house  of  worship  of  the  First  Congregation- 
al Church  but  is  now  used  for  business  purposes,  and  the 
house  on  Division  Street,  numbered  forty-six,  where  Mr. 
Whitefield  was  the  guest  of  Dr.  Hopkins. 


Rev.  Dr.  William  Ellery  Channing 


A  Paper  read  before  the  Newport  Historical  Society 
April  3rd,   1917 


By 
Rev.  WILLIAM    SAFFORD   JONES 


WILLIAM  ELLERY  CHANNING 


"  And  this  green,  favored  island,  so  fresh  and  sea-blown. 
When  she  counts  up  the  worthies  her  annals  have  known, 
Never  waits  for  the  pitiful  gaugers  of  sect   . 
To  measure  her  love,  and  mete  out  her  respect. 

"Three  shades  at  this  moment  seem  walking  her  strand, 
Each  with  head  halo-crowned,  and  with  palms  in  his  hand,— 
Wise  Berkeley,  grave  Hopkins,  and,  smiling  serene 
On  prelate  and  puritan,  Channing  is  seen. 

"  One  holy  name  bearing,  no  longer  they  need 
Credentials  of  party,  and  pass-words  of  creed  : 
The  new  song  they  sing  hath  a  threefold  accord. 
And  they  own  one  baptism,  one  faith,  and  one  Lord  !  " 

Thus  Whittier,  in  his  poem  on  "The  Quaker  Alumni", 
links  together  in  one  apostolic  order  of  the  spirit  these  three 
lights  of  the  world  in  their  several  generations,  Berkeley, 
Hopkins,  and  Channing,  all  of  whom  in  one  way  or  another 
touched  and  moulded  Newport  life  and  thought.  But  Berke- 
ley, though  he  profoundly  impressed  the  community  with 
his  philosophic  acumen  and  spiritual  consecration,  was  after 
all  more  or  less  of  a  bird  of  passage;  and  Hopkins,  though 
for  so  many  years  "a  son  of  thunder"  in  an  easy-going,  self- 
satisfied  community,  was  not  born  here  and  did  not  come 
here  till  he  was  well  on  in  middle  age.  Channing,  however, 
was  a  son  of  Newport,  and  the  blood  of  several  generations 
of  Rhode  Islanders  flowed  in  his  veins.  Then,  too,  he  never 
lost  connection  with  this  fair  isle.  Even  though  his  name 
and  fame  are  indissolubly  bound  up  with  the  life  and  spirit 
of  Boston,  we  must  remember  that  year  after  year  for  many 
summers  he  returned  with  delight  to  this  island  of  Aquid- 
neck.  Channing  often  fervently  thanked  God  that  he  was 
born  on  Rhode  Island,  In  his  correspondence  with  Miss 
Lucy  Aiken,  the  niece  of  Mrs.  Barbauld,  he  calls  this  the 
most  beautiful  island  in  this  country. 


128 

And  Channing  was  grateful  for  birth  in  a  State  which 
treasured  the  "soul  liberty"  of  Roger  Williams  and  his  ideal 
of  "a  free  church  in  a  free  state".  And  the  spiritual  atmos- 
phere into  which  he  was  born  had  been  impregnated  by  the 
ideas  of  come-outers  like  Samuel  Gorton  and  Anne  Hutchin- 
son and  John  Clarke.  No  wonder  that  Channing  could  say 
at  the  age  of  fifty  that  he  was  "always  young  for  liberty". 

Before  the  Revolution  Newport  was  a  more  important 
seaport  than  New  York.  Its  mail-bags  were  bigger.  South- 
ern planters  came  here  to  spend  the  summer,  and  though 
on  pleasure  bent  were  not  averse  to  buying  slaves  from 
Africa,  who  were  sold  frequently  on  the  wharves  for  rum 
or  cash.  These  poor  slaves  while  they  were  being  auctioned 
off  were  crowded  into  cages.  Then  there  were  three  hun- 
dred Jewish  families  in  Newport,  furnishing  merchants  and 
ship-owners  in  goodly  numbers.  Lopez,  a  Portuguese  Jew, 
was  the  owner  of  eighty-eight  square  riggers,  all  in  the  for- 
eign trade.  In  1774  Newport  boasted  a  population  of  nine 
thousand.  It  was  larger  than  Providence.  But  the  next 
year  there  were  only  five  thousand  in  Newport.  The  Rev- 
olution hit  it  hard.  Its  foreign  commerce  was  ruined.  Its 
Golden  Age  was  over.  The  British  occupation  was  a  terrible 
thing  for  the  island.  Hundreds  of  houses  were  burned.  All 
the  woods  and  trees  on  the  island  were  cut  down.  The  win- 
ter before  Channing's  birth,  1779-1780,  was  a  time  of  bitter 
distress  for  the  Newporters  who  opposed  King  George  and 
supported  the  cause  of  the  Colonies. 

We  gain  a  vivid  idea  of  the  Newport  of  that  day 
by  dipping  into  the  journal  of  the  Baron  du  Bourg  and  the 
letters  of  Comte  de  Rochambeau  and  the  diary  of  Ezra  Stiles. 
Dr.  Stiles,  who  had  been  elected  President  of  Yale  College 
but  had  not  yet  formally  severed  his  connection  with  the 
Second  Congregational  Church,  came  back  to  Newport  on  a 
pastoral  visit  in  the  spring  of  1780.  He  describes  his  dese- 
crated church  and  the  well-nigh  ruined  community.  While 
here  he  preached  two  Sundays,  May  21st  and  28th.  He  re- 
cords in  his  Diary,  Vol.  II,  page  426:  "1780,  May  28th.  Lord's 
Day.  I  preached  to  my  flock  A.  M.  Cant.  II.  2-4,  and  ad- 
ministered the  Lord's  Supper  to  thirty-two  communicants. 
P.  M.  I  preached  again,  and  baptized  William  Ellcry  Chan- 


129 

ning,  son  of  the  Hon.  William  Channing,  Esq.,  Attorney 
General  of  the  State  of  Rhode  Island."  This  child,  destined 
to  be  so  famous,  had  been  born  on  April  7th,  in  the  house 
which  is  now  fittingly  enough,  the  Children's  Home.  When 
Channing  came  into  the  world  Lafayette  was  on  the  high 
seas,  coming  from  France  with  the  glorious  news  that  a 
French  fleet  and  army  would  soon  be  on  the  way  to  help 
secure  the  independence  of  the  Colonies. 

In  his  sermon  delivered  in  Newport  in  1836  at  the 
dedication  of  Dr.  Hopkins's  church  as  a  Unitarian  Congrega- 
tional house  of  worship,  Channing  paid  this  tribute  to  Presi- 
dent Stiles,  who  baptized  him:  "Another  noble  friend  of 
religious  liberty  [he  had  just  spoken  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Cal- 
lender]  threw  a  luster  on  this  island  immediately  before  the 
Revolution.  I  mean  the  Rev.  Dr.  Stiles,  pastor  of  the  Sec- 
ond Congregational  Church,  and  afterwards  President  of 
Yale  College.     This  country  has  not  perhaps  produced   a 

more  learned  man In  his  faith  he  was  what  was 

called  a  moderate  Calvinist,  but  his  heart  was  of  no  sect. 
He  carried  into  his  religion  the  spirit  of  liberty  which 
then  stirred  the  whole  country.  .  .  .  He  respected  the  right 
of  private  judgment,  whore  others  would  have  thought 
themselves  authorized  to  restrain  it.  .  .  .  He  desired  to 
heal  the  wounds  of  the  divided  Church  of  Christ,  not  by  a 
common  creed,  but  by  the  spirit  of  love.  He  wished  to 
break  every  yoke,  civil  and  ecclesiastical,  from  men's  necks. 
To  the  influence  of  this  distinguished  man,  in  the  circle  in 
which  I  was  brought  up,  I  may  owe  in  part  the  indignation 
which  I  feel  towards  every  invasion  of  human  rights.  In 
my  earliest  years  I  regarded  no  human  being  with  equal  rev- 
erence. I  have  his  form  before  me  at  this  moment  almost 
as  distinctly  as  if  I  had  seen  him  yesterday.  So  strong  is 
the  impression  made  on  the  child  through  the  moral  affec- 
tions." 

When  Dr.  Samuel  Hopkins  came  back  to  Newport  the 
very  spring  of  Channing's  birth,  after  the  Rritish  occupation 
of  three  years,  he  found  the  rich  people  mostly  gone,  many 
houses  burned  (including  his  own),  and  his  church,  the 
First  Congregational,  so  badly  burned  that  it  was  unfit  for 
use.      But  what  troubled  the  good  old  man  most  of  all  was 


130 

the  moral  and  spiritual  condition  of  the  town.  He  found 
much  immorality  and  indift'erence.  And  the  religious  com- 
munity was  split  up  into  little  groups  of  Quakers,  Baptists, 
Free-Will  Baptists,  Seventh-Day  Baptists,  Episcopalians, 
Moravians,  Methodists,  Universalists,  Individualists  of  every 
peculiar  kind.  But  there  was  no  union  of  these  religious 
forces  against  scepticism,  intemperance,  and  sensuality. 
When,  however,  Hopkins  entered  the  pulpit  to  denounce 
these  evils  and  kindred  iniquities  like  the  traffic  in  African 
slaves  and  rum,  it  was  said  that  "sinners  trembled  and 
good  men  rejoiced". 

Channing  always  confessed  a  great  debt  of  gratitude 
to  Dr.  Hopkins.  He  revered  Dr.  Stiles,  as  we  have  seen; 
he  also  looked  upon  Dr.  Hopkins  as  a  father  in  Israel. 
When  Dr.  Stiles  went  to  Yale  his  congregation  worshipped 
with  Dr.  Hopkins's  for  the  first  six  years  of  Channing's  life. 
From  Dr.  Hopkins,  therefore,  the  boy  Channing  must  have 
received  his  first  instruction  in  the  catechism,  and  that 
meant  the  Westminster.  As  the  Rev.  Charles  T.  Brooks 
has  said  in  his  valuable  "Centennial  Memory  of  Channing" : 
"Grace  was  given  the  child  to  reject  the  indigestible  shell  of 
Calvinistic  irrationalities  and  inconsistencies,  and  take  only 
(what  indeed,  after  all,  the  noble-souled  old  warrior  valued 
more  than  all)  the  kernel  of  reverence  for  truth  and  honest 
conviction." 

"The  more  important  of  Channing's  recollections  of  Dr. 
Samuel  Hopkins",  says  Jojin  White  Chadwick,  in  his  noble 
biography  of  Channing,  "are  those  touching  the  relations  of 
the  two  men  in  the  younger's  early  manhood.  Those  touch- 
ing his  first  impressions  were  much  less  favorable.  But  the 
slightest  contact  between  two  religious  leaders  who,  differ- 
ing widely,  had  still  much  in  common,  is  too  precious  to  be 
overlooked.  After  Jonathan  Edwards,  with  whom  Hopkins 
enjoyed  an  affectionate  intimacy,  no  one  brought  to  New 
England  Calvinism  a  more  intellectual  and  spiritual  inter- 
pretation. Some  forty  years  ago  Mrs.  Stowe's  'Minister's 
Wooing'  renewed  this  popular  interest  in  his  character  and 
thought,  with  some  violence  to  the  facts  affecting  his  domes- 
tic life.  It  has  been  his  too  exclusively  known  opinion  that 
'we  should  be  willing  to  be  damned  for  the  glory  of  God'. 


131 

The  fact  that  he  was  actually  and  very  practically  willing 
to  be,  and  was,  damned  by  many  Newport  gentlemen  and 
traders,  for  his  interference  with  their  business  of  slave- 
catching  and  owning,  has  had  scanter  recognition." 

When  I  think  of  Hopkins  and  Channing,  I  always  think 
of  that  early  winter  morning  when  the  boy  looked  from  his 
window  across  the  gardens  between  his  home  and  the  gam- 
brel-roofed  parsonage,  and  saw  the  grand  old  man  working 
away  by  candle-light  on  some  kindling  thought  that  prevent- 
ed sulmber. 

William  EUery  Channing  was  the  third  of  ten  children, 
only  one  of  whom  died  in  infancy.  Three  of  the  nine  made 
a  name  for  themselves  in  the  world.  He  came  from  the 
best  stock,  what  Dr.  Holmes  would  have  called  "the  Brahmin 
caste  of  New  England",  being  related  to  the  Ellery,  Gibbs, 
Dana,  Allston,  Cabot,  Lee,  Jackson,  and  Lowell  families. 
The  first  American  Channing  was  John  Channing,  who  came 
from  Dorsetshire,  England,  in  1711.  Soon  after  his  arrival 
in  Boston  he  married  Mary  Antram,  who  bad  come  over  on 
the  same  ship  with  him.  Their  son  John  was  a  Newport 
merchant  who  lost  the  fortune  he  had  made.  He  married 
the  widow  Bobinson,  born  Mary  Chaloner.  After  her  hus- 
band's death  she  kept  a  little  shop  for  the  support  of  her 
family.  Between  customers  she  knitted  vigorously,  we  are 
told.  Everyone  respected  her.  John  Channing  was  the 
father  of  William  Channing  and  the  grandfather  of  William 
Ellery  Channing.  William  Channing,  the  father,  was  born 
in  Newport,  June  11,  1751.  He  was  a  graduate  of  Princeton 
in  the  class  of  1769.  He  read  law  in  Providence,  began  to 
practice  here  in  1771,  and  in  1773  married  Lucy  Ellery.  He 
was  a  lawyer  of  marked  ability,  but  rather  too  fond  of 
politics  for  the  good  of  his  family.  He  was  at  the  same  time 
attorney-general  of  the  State  and  United  States  district-at- 
torney. He  was  a  loyal  son  of  Princeton  and  came  near 
sending  his  boy,  William  Ellery,  there.  As  Princeton  theol- 
ogy has  always  been  of  a  very  different  stamp  from  that  of 
Harvard,  we  naturally  speculate  as  to  what  might  have  hap- 
pened if  Channing  had  gone  to  Princeton  instead  of  to  Har- 
vard. Would  he  have  changed  the  spiritual  atmosphere  of 
Princeton  or  would  it  have  changed  him? 


132 

The  elder  Channing  was  deeply  religious,  and  a  strong 
supporter  of  the  Congregational  Church.  He  took  an  active 
part  in  the  restoration  of  Dr.  Hopkins's  meeting-house.  His 
intercourse  with  Dr.  Stiles,  his  former  minister,  had  broad- 
ened his  mind.  This  liberality  of  opinion  he  passed  on  to 
his  children.  In  a  time  and  society  much  given  to  profanity 
he  was  entirely  free  from  it.  "I  recollect  with  gratitude", 
says  William,  "the  impression  he  made  on  my  own  mind.  I 
owed  it  to  him,  that,  though  living  in  the  atmosphere  of  this 
vice,  no  profane  word  ever  passed  my  lips."  A  genial  man, 
occasionally  his  pent-up  wrath  would  explode  vigorously, 
as  if  did  on  one  occasion  when  William  was  hearing  his 
father  plead  a  case  in  court.  The  boy  was  so  frightened 
that  he  rushed  from  the  court-house.  When  Rhode  Island 
adopted  the  Federal  Constitution  of  1787,  at  the  late  date  of 
May  29,  1790 — she  was  the  last  of  the  original  thirteen  to 
come  into  the  Union — young  Channing  was  present  at  the 
convention  with  his  father.  It  was  a  joyous  day  for  both. 
The  elder  Channing  hailed  the  French  Revolution  with  en- 
thusiasm, but  the  putting  to  death  of  Louis  XVI  was  too 
much  for  his  faith  and  hope.  Young  William's  grandfather, 
John  Channing,  the  merchant,  had  owned  slaves,  but  soon 
after  the  Revolution  they  were  all  freed.  In  their  "bewilder- 
ing freedom"  the  elder  William  was  very  considerate  in  his 
treatment  of  them.  The  boy  was  admitted  to  his  father's 
office  at  choir  practice  every  week, — a  keen  pleasure  for 
him.  The  elder  was  a  famous  gardener,  and  not  content 
with  one  garden  must  have  two,  to  supply  his  friends'  tables 
as  well  as  his  own.  But  though  attached  to  his  children,  he 
was  never  intimate  with  them.  The  custom  of  the  time 
made  for  a  certan  austerity  and  dignity,  even  in  the  family 
circle. 

Channing's  mother,  Lucy  Ellery,  whom  he  resembled  in 
feature,  though  not  in  expression,  hers  being  hard  and  cold 
while  his  was  mild  and  luminous,  was  the  daughter  of  Wil- 
liam Ellery,  the  signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 
She  was  short  in  stature,  as  was  her  famous  son.  But  what 
was  said  of  her  could  have  been  said  of  him:  "She  made 
th'  most  of  her  inches  by  her  erect  carriage  and  elastic 
motion."     William  Henry  Channing,  the  nephew  of  William 


133 

Ellery  Channing  and  his  biographer,  speaks  of  her  "rough 
nobleness",  which  I  take  to  mean  that  she  was  in  the  habit 
of  speaking  her  mind  plainly,  if  not  always  calmly.  We  are 
told  that  a  familiar  household  note  was:  "Don't  trouble 
yourself,  Lucy;  I  will  make  all  smooth."  Thus  her  husband 
poured  oil  upon  the  angry  waters.  But  her  son  William 
idolized  her,  as  we  see  from  the  following  tribute:  "The 
most  remarkable  trait  in  my  mother's  character  was  the 
rectitude  and  simplicity  of  her  mind.  Perhaps  I  have  never 
known  her  equal  in  this  respect.  She  was  true  in  thought, 
word,  and  life.  She  had  the  firmness  to  see  the  truth,  to 
speak  it,  to  act  upon  it.  She  was  direct  in  judgment  and 
conversation,  and  in  my  long  intercourse  with  her  [she  lived 
till  he  was  past  fifty]  I  cannot  recall  one  word  or  action  be- 
traying the  slightest  insincerity.  She  had  keen  insight  into 
character.  She  was  not  to  be  imposed  upon  by  others,  and, 
what  is  rarer,  she  practiced  no  imposition  upon  her  own 
mind.  She  saw  things,  persons,  events,  as  they  were,  and 
spoke  of  them  by  their  right  names.  Her  partialities  did 
not  blind  her,  even  to  her  children.  Her  love  was  without 
illusion.  She  recognized,  unerringly  and  with  delight,  fair- 
ness, honesty,  genuine  uprightness,  and  shrank  as  by  in- 
stinct from  everything  specious,  the  fictitious  in  character, 
and  plausible  in  manners,"  What  a  good  description  of 
'  lianning's  own  character! 

But,  says  his  biographer,  Chadwick,  "he  was  not  a  happy 
Doy  because  his  parents,  doing  their  duty  by  him  in  the 
jnost  conscientious  manner,  were  not  affable  and  friendly 
with  him,  gave  him  a  stony  formalism  when  he  craved  spon- 
taneous affection,  were  of  the  opinion  that  he  should  be  seen 
and  not  heard,  and  that  he  should  know  his  place.  Then, 
too,  there  was  the  burden  of  the  inherited  theology  and  the 
cheerless  piety  of  the  New  England  Puritan  early  to  solem- 
nize his  tremulous  heart."  But  let  it  not  be  inferred  from  this 
that  he  did  not  take  part  with  the  other  boys  in  all  their 
sports  and  games.  He  was  very  fond  of  roaming  about  on 
the  wharves  and  climbing  to  the  tops  of  the  tallest  masts. 
His  longing  for  a  lofty  outlook  began  early,  you  see.  After 
attending  four  different  dame-schools  he  went  to  the  school 


134 

kept  by  the  famous  Master  Rogers,  who  trained  the  intellects 
and  moulded  the  characters  of  many  who  afterwards  be- 
came distinguished.  Washington  Allston,  who  was  after- 
wards related  to  him  by  marriage,  and  Malbone,  were  among 
his  school-fellows.  Ruth  Gibbs,  his  cousin,  destined  to  be 
his  wife,  was  then  a  lovely  little  girl  in  the  school. 

Channing  was  not  a  brilliant  pupil.  His  teachers  and 
schoolmates  thought  him  a  dunce.  He  was  very  slow  at  his 
Latin.  One  day  an  assistant  in  his  father's  of!ice  said  to  him : 
"Come,  Bill,  they  say  you  are  a  fool,  but  I'll  soon  teach  you 
Latin."  Soon  the  boy  was  enjoying  Vergil,  and  he  began  to 
make  great  strides  in  mathematics.  But  from  the  first  he 
w^as  a  thorough,  not  a  superficial  student.  That  was  char- 
acteristic of  him  all  his  days. 

It  must  have  been  a  wonderful  day  for  the  boy  when 
Washington  came  and  dined  with  his  father,  about  August 
17,  1790.  When  Washington  had  made  his  eastern  tour  the 
year  before  he  could  not  enter  Rhode  Island,  for  it  was  for- 
eign territory,  it  not  having  adopted  the  Constitution.  In 
recognition  of  its  entrance  into  the  compact  Washington 
made  a  special  trip  to  this  State  in  1790.  Under  the  same 
roof  John  Jay  and  other  noted  Federalists  were  entertained. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  influence  upon  young  Channing  of 
his  father  and  mother  and  of  Dr.  Stiles  and  Dr.  Hopkins. 
At  least  one  other  helped  to  mould  his  youthful  character,, 
his  grandfather,  William  Ellery. 

William  Ellery,  born  in  1727,  married  early  in  life  Ann 
Remington,  of  Cambridge,  Massachusetts.  She  looked  well 
to  the  ways  of  her  household,  and  he  was  a  devoted  husband. 
British  trade  restrictions  ruined  his  business  prospects,  and 
in  1770  he  began  to  practise  law.  He  was  one  of  the  leading 
spirits  in  the  Sons  of  Liberty,  who  were  so  eager  for  separa- 
tion from  the  Mother  Country  and  Independence.  Rhode 
Island  sent  him  with  the  venerable  Stephen  Hopkins  to  the 
Continental  Congress.  Thus  he  became  one  of  the  signers 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  He  was  honest,  fair- 
minded,  and  high-minded.  Channing,  who  reverenced  his 
character,  and  who  corresponded  with  him  till  his  death 
in  1820  at  the  age  of  ninety-two,  might  have  said  of  him  as 
Marcus  Aurelius  said  of  his  grandfather  in  the  introduction 


135 

to  his  "Meditations" :     "From  my  grandfather  I  learned  good 
morals  and  the  government  of  my  temper." 

One  other  influence  played  an  important  part  in  Chan- 
ning's  early  life,  communion  with  Nature.  He  loved  solitary 
walks  and  musings.  Especially  did  he  love  to  pace  up  and 
down  Newport  Beach.  The  roar  of  the  surf  was  "part  of  his 
life's  unalterable  good".  "No  spot  on  earth",  he  said,  "has 
helped  to  form  me  so  much  as  that  beach.  There  I  lifted  up 
my  voice  in  praise  amidst  the  tempest.  There,  softened  by 
beauty,  I  poured  my  thanksgiving  and  contrite  confessions. 
There,  in  reverential  sympathy  with  the  mighty  power 
around  me,  I  became  conscious  of  power  within.  There 
struggling  thoughts  and  emotions  broke  forth,  as  if  moved  to 
utterance  by  nature's  eloquence  of  the  winds  and  waves. 
There  began  a  happiness  surpassing  all  worldly  pleasures, 
all  gifts  of  fortune,  the  happiness  of  communing  with  the 
works  of  God." 

One  anecdote  of  Channing's  childhood  illustrates  the 
serious  impression  made  upon  his  heart  and  mind  by  what 
has  been  called  "oratorical  piety",  b}^  the  preaching  of  dog- 
ma which  is  not  taken  in  logical  and  literal  reality.  His 
father,  wishing  to  give  him  a  drive,  took  him  with  him  one 
day  to  hear  a  famous  preacher  who  was  holding  forth  in  the 
neighborhood.  Young  William  listened  earnestly  to  the  dis- 
course. With  fervent  utterance  and  glowing  imagery  the 
preacher  described  man's  total  depravity,  his  love  of  evil,  his 
weakness,  his  need  of  divine  grace,  and  the  necessity  of  un- 
ceasing prayer.  The  world  was  painted  in  dark  colors,  a 
curse  rested  upon  all.  The  boy  felt  sure  that  if  this  were 
true,  everyone  would  give  up  his  business  and  pleasure  and 
start  out  to,  convert  the  unregenerate.  As  they  left  the 
church,  his  father  said  with  emphasis  to  someone  who  had 
accosted  him, —  "Sound  doctrine.  Sir".  "It  is  all  true", — 
the  boy  thought.  A  cloud  came  over  him.  He  was  so  de-' 
pressed  that  he  dared  not  speak  to  his  father.  On  the  way 
his  father  began  to  whistle!  Instead  of  calling  the  family 
together  and  telling  them  the  awful  news  of  man's  doom,  his 
father  pulled  off  his  boots,  put  his  feet  on  the  fender,  and 
started  to  read  his  newspaper.  Everything  went  on  as  usual. 
The  lad  was  shocked  at  such  apparent  callousness.     "Could 


136 

what  he  had  heard  be  true?  No!  his  father  did  not  beUeve 
it;  people  did  not  believe  it!     It  was  not  true!" 

This  was  a  rude  shock  to  the  boy's  conscience.  Hence- 
forth he  looked  with  distrust  upon  such  theatrical  preaching. 
He  learned  to  measure  the  exact  meaning  of  words  and 
phrases.  He  detested  public  speaking  that  did  not  ring 
true.     Sincerity  he  demanded  above  all  things. 

At  the  age  of  twelve  Channing  went  to  New  London, 
Connecticut,  to  study  with  his  uncle,  the  Rev.  Henry 
Channing.  That  community  was  in  the  midst  of  one  of  New 
England's  periodic  revivals,  and  the  young  Channing  seems 
to  have  been  affected  by  it.  His  religious  nature  was  awak- 
ened. During  his  visit  he  spent  much  time  on  a  hill  at 
Old  Lyme,  overlooking  the  sea.  When  on  the  one  hun- 
dredth anniversary  of  his  birth  the  church  was  built  in  New- 
port in  his  memory,  the  stone  for  it  was  brought  from  a 
quarry  on  that  hill.  From  his  New  London  studies  he  was 
suddenly  called  home  by  his  father's  death  on  September  21, 
1792.  After  the  funeral  he  went  back  to  his  uncle  for  a  year, 
but  he  knew  that  on  him  and  his  elder  brother  would  come  in 
the  future  grave  responsibilities.  There  was  only  a  little 
property  left  by  his  father.  But  he  left  a  good  name,  if  not 
great  riches,  to  his  wife  and  children. 

Channing  entered  Harvard  College  in  the  fall  of  1794. 
Fourteen  was  then  no  uncommon  entrance  age.  He  did  not 
live  in  the  College  Yard,  but  with  his  uncle.  Chief  Justice 
Dana,  who  had  married  his  mother's  sister.  "He  did  not 
associate  much  with  his  classmates  generally",  we  are  told, 
but  "drew  about  him  a  circle  of  choice  and  select  friends". 
His  intimate  friends  were  Story,  afterwards  the  great  Judge 
and  expounder  of  the  Constitution;  Joseph  Tuckerman, 
whose  name  will  always  be  associated  with  the  ministry  to 
the  poor  in  Boston;  and  Jonathan  Phillips,  destined  to  be 
one  of  Boston's  great  citizens.  In  Channing's  day  there  were 
one  hundred  and  seventy-three  students  in  the  College. 
What  a  contrast  to  the  Harvard  of  today,  which  has  more 
than  that  number  on  the  teaching  staff! 

In  his  recollections  Channing's  college  life  took  on  a 
gloomy  tinge.  "College",  he  says  "was  never  in  a  worse  state 
than  when  I  entered  it.     Society  was  passing  through  a  most 


1:37 

critical  stage.  The  French  Revolution  had  diseased  the 
imagination  and  unsettled  the  understanding  of  men  every- 
where  The   tone  of  books   and   conversation   was 

presumptuous  and  daring.  The  tendency  of  all  classes  was 
to  scepticism.  At  such  a  moment  the  difficulties  of  educa- 
tion were  necessarily  multiplied.  .  .  .  The  state  of  morals 
among  the  students  was  anything  but  good;  but  poverty,  a 
dread  of  debt,  and  an  almost  instinctive  shrinking  from 
gross  vice,  to  which  natural  timidity  and  religious  principle 
contributed  not  a  little,  proved  effectual  safeguards." 

Channing's  college  life  covered  the  last  two  years  of 
Washington's  second  administration  and  the  first  two  of 
Adams's  term.  The  Federalists,  who  were  English  in  their 
sympathies,  were  always  in  bitter  controversy  with  the  Jef- 
fersonian-Republicans,  who  were  friends  of  France.  The  over- 
whelming majority  at  Harvard  was  Federalist.  In  1798 
Channing  called  his  fellow-students  together  to  protest 
against  French  aggression  on  the  high  seas  and  to  offer  to 
President  Adams  "the  unwasted  ardor  and  unimpaired 
energies  of  our  youth  to  the  service  of  our  country".  All  but 
three  in  the  college  signed  it.  On  his  graduation  in  1798  he 
was  forbidden  by  the  faculty  to  introduce  current  politics 
into  his  Coinmencement  oration  on  "The  Present  Age".  He 
got  around  it  by  pausing  in  his  oration  and  saying:  "But 
that  I  am  forbid,  I  could  a  tale  unfold  that  would  harrow  up 
your  souls."     Tremendous  applause! 

At  Harvard  he  was  a  member  of  the  Speaking  Club, 
later  called  the  Institute;  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa;  the  Adelphi, 
for  those  largely  ministerially  inclined;  the  Hasty  Pudding, 
started  by  his  own  class  in  1795;  the  Porcellian,  which  was 
too  "epicurean  and  convivial  for  his  taste". 

It  was  while  Channing  was  reading  Hutcheson,  the 
English  moralist,  one  day  under  the  Cambridge  willows, 
that  there  flashed  into  his  mind  that  great  idea  which  was  to 
be  "the  fountain  light  of  all  his  day,  the  master  light  of  all  his 
seeing", — the  idea  of  the  dignity  of  human  nature.  It  was 
his  Damascus  vision.  "He  longed  to  die;  as  if  heaven 
alone  could  give  room  for  the  exercise  of  such  emotion." 
The  book  awakened  him  spiritually.  He  was  also  stirred  by 
Adam  Ferguson's  "Essay  on  Civil  Society".     Enthusiasm  for 


138 

social  progress  and  the  conception  of  moral  perfection  were 
awakened  in  his  mind  by  Ferguson.  Channing  also  dipped 
into  Locke,  Berkeley,  Reid,  Hume,  and  Priestley;  Richard 
Price,  also,  loved  by  Benjamin  Franklin,  hated  by  Edmund 
Burke.  Channing  happened  to  be  in  college  during  a  Shake- 
spearean revival,  and  felt  its  influence  keenly.  When  he 
came  to  choose  his  profession  he  first  inclined  towards  the 
law.  But  "the  prevalence  of  infidelity"  led  him  to  examine 
the  evidences  for  Christianity,  "and  then",  he  says,  "I  found 
for  what  I  was  made". 

But  he  could  not  at  once  enter  the  ministry.  He  must 
work  and  earn  some  money,  he  must  also  make  special 
preparation  for  his  chosen  profession.  Remember  that 
this  was  before  theological  instruction  had  been  differenti- 
ated from  other  college  teaching.  The  Divinity  School  of 
Harvard  University  did  not  come  into  being  as  a  separate 
department  until  1816.  The  custom  then  was  for  every 
college  graduate  who  intended  to  enter  the  ministry  to  study 
with  some  older  clergyman  or  to  study  by  himself.  Chan- 
ning, however,  being  without  money,  had  to  take  up  teaching 
for  a  while.  He  went  to  Richmond  as  a  tutor  in  the  family 
of  Mr.  David  Meade  Randolph,  who  had  known  him  in 
Newport.  He  taught  Mr.  Randolph's  children  and  some 
others,  a  dozen  in  all.  At  his  employer's  table  he  met  John 
Marshall  and  other  great  lights  in  Virginia  social  and  polit- 
ical life.  The  open-handed  hospitality  of  the  South  he  com- 
pared favorably  with  what  he  called  "the  selfish  prudence  of 
a  Yankee".  But  he  said:  "Could  I  only  take  from  the 
Virginians  their  sensuality  and  their  slaves,  I  should  think 
them  the  greatest  people  in  the  world.  As  it  is,  with  a  few 
great  virtues  they  have  innumerable  vices." 

As  in  New  London,  so  in  Richmond,  the  youth  passed 
through  a  great  spiritual  awakening.  The  trouble  was  that 
it  made  him  so  morbidly  introspective  for  the  time  that  he 
strove  to  keep  his  body  under  by  abusing  it,  eating  insuffi- 
cient food,  sleeping  on  the  floor  in  a  cold  room,  wearing 
clothes  that  did  not  keep  him  warm.  He  went  to  Richmond 
a  vigorous  youth,  he  left  it  a  physical  and  nervous  wreck. 
And  all  his  life  long  he  suffered  from  fearful  headaches  and 
nervous  indigestion  as  a  result  of  this  unwise  asceticism. 


139 

No  monk  of  old  ever  tried  any  harder  than  he  to  exalt  the 
spirit  by  punishing  the  body.  In  after  life  he  realized  the 
folly  of  this  procedure.  But  it  was  too  late  to  remedy  the 
ills  he  had  brought  upon  himself. 

After  nearly  two  years  in  Richmond  he  came  back  to 
Newport  in  July,  1800,  the  voyage  being  an  exciting  one,  in 
a  leaky  coaling  sloop  with  a  drunken  captain  and  crew. 
Then  his  theological  studies  began  in  earnest.  In  a  little 
oiFice  near  the  house  his  light,  like  Dr.  Hopkins's  burned  far 
into  the  night.  He  spent  much  time  at  the  Redwood  Library, 
much  at  the  Beach  he  loved.  In  1802  he  returned  to  Harvard 
as  regent  of  the  college,  a  sort  of  general  proctor.  He  kept 
on  his  studies  under  the  guidance  of  President  Willard  and 
Professor  Tappan.  In  Cambridge  he  united  with  the  First 
Church,  over  which  was  settled  a  moderate  Calvinist,  Dr. 
Abiel  Holmes,  father  of  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes.  His  first 
sermon  from  the  text,  "Silver  and  gold  have  I  none,  but  such 
as  I  have  give  I  unto  thee",  delivered  in  several  pulpits  in  and 
about  Boston  and  in  Hopkins's  pulpit  in  Newport,  attracted 
attention. 

He  was  called  by  two  Boston  parishes,  the  Brattle 
Street  Church,  where  Dr.  Thacher  needed  a  colleague,  and 
the  Federal  Street,  a  weaker  and  poorer  church.  He  accepted 
the  Federal  Street  call  on  February  12,  1803,  and  was  or- 
dained and  installed  June  1,  1803.  His  uncle,  Henry  Chan- 
ning  of  New  London,  gave  the  charge  to  the  minister;  his 
classmate,  Joseph  Tuckerman,  gave  him  the  right  hand  of 
fellowship;  Dr.  Tappan  preached  the  sermon.  The  Federal 
Street  Church  was  made  up  of  the  descendants  of  Scotch- 
Irish  Presbyterians,  who  had  founded  it  in  1729.  In  1788  the 
Massachusetts  State  Convention  met  in  it  to  ratify  the  Fed- 
eral Constitution.     Hence  the  name  of  the  street.  Federal. 

Boston  then  had  fewer  inhabitants  than  Newport  has 
now.  It  was  more  like  an  old  English  market  town  than 
anything  else.  "The  social  aspect,"  says  Chadwick,  "was 
that  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  conservative  at  that. 
Gentlemen  of  means  wore  colored  coats  and  figured  waist- 
coats, with  knee-breeches  and  long  white-topped  boots,  ruf- 
fled shirt-fronts  and  wristbands  and  stuffed  white  cravats, 
cocked   hats    (the   more   elderly)    and   wigs The 


140 

stately  minuet  was  still  the  evening  dance.  In  the  summer 
season  Boston  rivalled  Newport  as  a  place  of  Southern 
resort,  its  anti-slavery  atmosphere  not  yet  sharpening  its 
east  wind.  The  big  English  dinner  was  the  king-pin  about 
which  the  best  society  revolved.  This  society  was  as  exclu- 
sive of  Jetfersonian  Republicans  as  freezing  water  of  animal 
germs.  A  lady  of  the  period  said,  T  should  as  soon  have 
expected  to  see  a  cow  in  a  drawing-room  as  a  Jacobin'. 

"Boston  had,  in  1803,  httle  to  show  of  that  intellectual 
life  of  which  eventually  it  had  so  much.  In  fact,  Channing, 
Buckminster,  and  Norton  were  the  prime  movers  of  the  new^ 
regime.  Few  could  speak  French  or  read  it.  Madame  de 
Stael's  'L'Allemagne'  (1814)  was  the  first  seed  of  German 
studies,  and  its  growth  was  slow.  The  Queen  Anne  men 
reigned  in  literary  taste.  If  Burns  had  been  discovered,  it 
was  probably  by  some  miserable  Jeffersonian.  Words- 
worth's first  American  reprint  was  in  Philadelphia  in  1802. 
Of  creative  ability  there  was  none,  except  as  Nathaniel 
Bowditch's  'Practical  Navigator'  had  set  sail  in  1800,  and 
Jedidiah  Morse.. had  published  his  geography.  The  best 
promise  of  Prescott  and  Bancroft  and  Motley  and  Parkman 
and  Fiske  and  Rhodes  was  the  local  work  of  Jeremy  Bel- 
knap, founder  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  who 
died  in  1798.  There  were  good  lawyers  like  Dexter  and  Par- 
sons; and  Fisher  Ames  was  magnified  in  the  local  atinos- 
phere  to  the  proportions  of  a  Burke  or  a  Bossuet.  The  sure 
thing  about  Ames  was  that  he  was  a  political  pessimist  of 
such  sombre  hue  that  his  temper  overhung  the  common  con- 
sciousness of  Boston  like  a  leaden  pall.  In  1795  he  feared 
that  he  might  outlive  the  government  and  the  Constitution  of 
his  country,  and  naturally  his  gloom  had  deepened  with  the 
triumph  of  democratic  principles.  He  complained  that 
even  the  Federalists  did  not  appreciate  as  they  should  'the 
progress  of  licentiousness',  a  euphemism  for  the  spread  of 
Jeffersonian  opinions.  There  were  perhaps  five  hundred 
who  did  so,  and  perhaps  not. 

"Fisher  Ames's  five  hundred  thorough-going  pessimists 
included,  Mr.  Henry  Adams  thinks,  nearly  all  the  Massachu- 
setts clergy.  In  Boston  and  vicinity  these  clergymen  were 
nearly  all  Unitarians,  the  doctrines  of  the  Trinity  and  the 


141 

more  distinctive  doctrines  of  Calvinism  having  for  them  no 
longer  any  attraction.  Had  Jefferson  been  aware  of  this,  his 
fear  and  hate  of  the  New  England  clergy  would  have  been 
qualified  in  no  slight  degree,  for  his  enthusiasm  for  religious 
liberality  was  even  greater  than  for  political.  But  he 
formed  his  ideas  of  them  upon  the  clergy  against  whom  he 
had  contended  in  Virginia,  men  impervious  to  ideas,  'beasts 
at  Ephesus',  whose  fangs  had  left  their  memories  in  his 
shrinking  flesh.  But  what  we  are  bound  to  consider  is  the 
effect  which  the  political  temper  of  the  clergy  had  upon  the 
expression  of  their  theological  opinions.  Within  a  week  of 
Channing's  ordination,  the  Rev.  Jedidiah  Morse,  of  Charles- 
town,  preached  the  Election  Sermon,  and  he  said,  'Let  us 
guard  against  the  insidious  encroachments  of  innovation — 
that  evil  and  beguiling  spirit  which  is  now  stalking  to  and  fro 
in  the  earth,  seeking  whom  it  may  destroy'.  Morse  was  Cal- 
vinistic,  but  his  temper,  a  more  important  matter  than  his 
opinions,  was  that  of  the  whole  body  of  clergy  of  which 
Channing  had  now  become  a  conscious  part.  Dr.  Hedge  has 
characterized  the  period  immediately  preceding  Channing's 
settlement  as  'the  dryest  in  the  history  of  the  American  pul- 
pit'. The  impression  made  by  Channing's  early  preaching 
was  enhanced  immensely  by  its  vivid  contrast  with  the 
prevailing  tone." 

Channing  began  his  ministry  as  a  kind  of  combination  of 
Calvinist  and  Hopkinsinian,  but  after  a  few  years  his  latent 
liberalism  began  to  show  itself.  For  a  century  the  Congre- 
gational churches  of  New  England,  more  especially  Massa- 
chusetts, had  been,  theologically,  in  a  state  of  evolution. 
Rigid  Calvinism,  with  its  iron  decrees,  in  many  parishes 
gave  way  to  milder  Arminianism,with  its  emphasis  on  Divine 
Love  and  Grace.  Many  Arians,  who  read  in  their  New 
Testaments  that  the  Son  was  subordinate  to  the  Father, 
began  to  doubt  the  co-equality  of  the  Three  Persons  in  the 
Godhead.  Later  humanitarian  conceptions  of  Jesus  as  the 
first-born  of  many  brethren  and  not  as  absolute  Deity,  crept 
into  the  preaching  of  many  pulpits.  The  process  was  so 
gradual  and  so  quiet  that  not  until  1815  did  the  Orthodox 
party  awake  to  what  was  going  on.  Then  came  the  Unita- 
rian-Trinitarian controversy  which  split  the  Congregational 


142 

churches  wide  open.  As  a  result,  the  great  majority  of  the 
ancient  parishes  of  Massachusetts  espoused  the  Unitarian 
side,  preserving  their  historic  continuity  and  corporate  Ufe 
without  change  of  name  or  covenant.  The  First  Church  of 
the  Pilgrims  in  Plymouth  and  the  First  Churches  of  the  Puri- 
tans in  Salem  and  Boston,  adhered  to  the  Liberal  cause.  In 
many  cases  the  Trinitarians  felt  obliged  to  go  out  and  form 
new  parishes,  in  order  to  retain  the  old  doctrinal  standards. 
In  some  cases  the  Unitarians  were  forced  out.  The  im- 
portant point  is  that  Channing  and  the  Liberals  in  the  Con- 
gregational churches  had  no  intention  of  starting  another 
sect.  They  desired  to  be  known  merely  as  Christians  or 
Congregationalists.  The  opprobrious  name  Unitarian  was 
fastened  on  them  by  their  opponents,  the  Calvinists,  who 
gave  no  quarter  and  asked  for  none.  But  when  it  became  a 
badge  of  reproach  they  wore  it  as  a  badge  of  honor,  as  the 
Wesleys  did  when  at  Oxford  they  were  derisively  called 
Methodists. 

In  his  "Literary  History  of  America"  Professor  Barrett 
Wendell  says:  "The  Unitarianism  of  New  England,  of 
course,  was  not  unique  either  theologically  or  philosophi- 
cally. In  its  isolated  home,  however,  it  chanced  to  develop 
one  feature  which  distinguishes  its  early  career  from  similar 
phases  of  religious  history  elsewhere.  The  astonishing 
personal  purity  and  moral  beauty  of  its  leaders  combined 
with  their  engaging  theology  to  effect  the  rapid  social  con- 
quest of  the  whole  region  about  Boston.  .  .King's  Chapel  and 
Harvard  College  passed  into  Unitarian  hands.  The  same 
was  true  of  nearly  all  the  old  Puritan  churches 

"The  general  conquest  of  ecclesiastical  strongholds  by 
the  Unitarians  deeply  affected  the  whole  structure  of  Massa- 
chusetts society.  Elsewhere  in  America,  perhaps,  and 
surely  in  England,  Unitarianism  has  generally  presented 
itself  as  dissenting  dissent,  and  has  consequently  been  ex- 
posed to  the  kind  of  social  disfavor  which  aggressive  radi- 
calism is  apt  anywhere  to  involve.  In  the  isolated  capital  of 
isolated  New  England,  on  the  other  hand,  where  two 
centuries  had  established  such  a  rigid  social  system,  the  cap- 
ture of  the  old  churches  meant  the  capture,  too,  of  almost 
every  social  stronghold.  In  addition  to  its  inherent  charm,the 


143 

pristine  Unitarianisin  of  Massachusetts  was  strengthened  by 
all  the  force  of  fashion  in  a  community  where  somewhat 
eccentric  fashion  has  always  had  great  weight.  Whoever 
clung  to  the  old  faith  did  so  at  his  social  peril." 

It  is  not  my  intention  to  go  deeply  into  the  controversy 
which  made  a  divided  fold  of  the  Congregational  commun- 
ion. But  I  must  call  attention  to  some  of  the  high-water 
marks  in  that  raging  storm.  These  were  Channing's 
1815  article  on  "The  System  of  Exclusion  and  Denun- 
ciation in  Religion",  when  he  said,  "Could  the  thun- 
ders and  lightnings  of  excommunication  have  corrected 
the  atmosiDhere  of  the  church,  not  one  pestilential 
vapor  would  have  loaded  it  for  ages";  and  the  arti- 
cles of  1819  and  1820  on  "Objections  to  Unitarian  Chris- 
tianity Considered"  and  "The  Moral  Argument  against  Cal- 
vinism", in  which  he  maintained  that  "Christianity  contained 
no  such  doctrines  [as  those  of  Calvinism].  Christianity 
was  designed  to  manifest  God  in  a  character  of  perfect 
benevolence."  He  laid  stress  on  "inward  purity,  heavenly- 
mindedness,  love  of  Jesus  Christ  and  God".  In  his  Balti- 
more sermon  of  1819,  at  the  ordination  of  Jared  Sparks, 
Channing  dwelt  on  "the  moral  perfection  of  God,  the  oneness 
of  his  justice  and  mercy,  his  parental  character,  his  freedom 
from  those  traits  which  constituted  him  a  being  whom  we 
cannot  love  if  we  would,  and  whom  we  ought  not  to  if  we 
could".  He  rejected  the  idea  that  "Christ's  suffering  was  a 
price  to  God  to  buy  his  mercy  to  mankind".  In  1821  at  the 
dedication  of  the  Second  Unitarian  Church  in  New  York  he 
preached  on  "Unitarian  Christianity  most  favorable  to 
Piety",  giving  nine  reasons  why  it  is.  "(1).  It  presents  one 
object  of  supreme  homage,  and  does  not  distract  the  mind 
with  three  persons  having  distinct  qualities  and  relations. 
(2)  It  holds  inviolate  the  spirituality  of  God,  not  giving  him 
a  material  human  frame.  (3)  Its  object  of  devotion  is  as 
simple  as  it  is  sublime.  (4)  It  asserts  the  absolute  and 
unbounded  perfection  of  God's  character.  (5)  It  accords 
with  nature,  with  the  world  around  and  within  us.  (6)  It 
introduces  us  to  new  and  ever  larger  views  of  God.  (7)  It 
assigns  to  Jesus  his  highest  proper  place — that  of  the  greatest 
of  the  sons  of  God.  (8)  It  meets  the  wants  of  sinful  men.  (9) 
It  is  a  rational  religion." 


144 

111  his  Election  Sermon  of  1830  Channing  said:  "I  call 
that  mind  free  which  jealously  guards  its  intellectual  rights 
and  powers,  which  calls  no  man  master,  which  does  not 
content  itself  with  a  passive  or  hereditary  faith,  which  opens 
itself  to  light  whencesoever  it  may  come,  which  receives  new 
truth  as  an  angel  from  heaven,  which,  whilst  consulting 
others,  inquires  still  more  of  the  oracle  within  itself  and  uses 
instructions  from  abroad,  not  to  supersede  but  to  exalt  and 
quicken  its  own  energies." 

Channing  strongly  opposed  the  War  of  1812,  considering 
it  an  unnecessary  and  iniquitous  war.  But  in  1814,  when  it 
was  expected  that  the  British  would  land  on  our  shores,  he 
preached  on  the  duty  of  manly  self-defence.  And  at  the 
"solemn  festival"  of  thanksgiving  for  the  downfall  of  Napo- 
leon he  cried  out  in  his  sermon,  "The  oppressor  is  fallen  and 
the  world  is  free";  whereupon  the  congregation  in  King's 
Chapel  burst  into  cheers.  In  1816  his  sermon  on  "War", 
before  the  Massachusetts  Convention  of  Congregational  Min- 
isters, caused  the  formation  of  the  Massachusetts  Peace  So- 
ciety; but  driving  with  a  brother  clergyman  on  this  island 
one  summer  day  he  doubled  up  his  tiny  fist  and  cried,  "There 
are  times  when  a  man  must  fight". 

In  1822  Channing,  who  had  then  been  happily  married 
to  his  cousin,  Ruth  Gibbs,  for  eight  years,  went  abroad  with 
her  for  his  health.  In  Rome  he  received  word  that  his  older 
boy  had  died, — a  terrible  grief  to  him.  In  England  he  met 
Coleridge,  who  saw  in  him  "a  philosopher  in  the  double 
sense  of  the  word",  saying,  "He  has  the  love  of  wisdom  and 
the  wisdom  of  love".  Of  his  visit  to  Wordsworth,  when  the 
two  rode  together  in  a  cart,  which  must  have  been  like  Emer- 
son's wagon  hitched  to  a  star,  Channing  wrote :  "We  talked  so 
eagerly  as  often  to  interrupt  one  another,  and  as  I  descended 
into  Grasmere  near  sunset,  with  the  placid  lake  before  me, 
and  Wordsworth  talking  and  reciting  poetry  with  a  poet's 
spirit  by  my  side,  I  felt  that  the  combination  of  circum- 
stances was  such  as  my  highest  hopes  could  never  have 
anticipated."  After  a  score  of  years  Wordsworth  remem- 
bered that  Channing's  one  great  evidence  of  the  divine 
origin  of  Christianity  was  "that  it  contained  nothing  which 
rendered  it  unadapted  to  a  progressive  state  of  society,  that 


145 

it  put  no  checks  on  the  activity  of  the  human  mind,  and  did 
not  compel  it  to  tread  always  in  a  beaten  path." 

In  1823  Channing  returned  from  Europe,  and  the  next 
year  Ezra  Stiles  Gannett,  grandson  of  Ezra  Stiles,  was  or- 
dained as  his  colleague.  This  gave  him  more  time  for  public 
work  outside  the  pulpit,  lectures  and  addresses  and  articles. 
For  the  next  eighteen  years  he  was  constantly  speaking  and 
writing  on  such  topics  as  Slavery,  War,  Self-Culture,  Eleva- 
tion of  the  Laboring  Classes,  Temperance,  Annexation  of 
Texas  (which  he  opposed,  as  he  did  slavery),  the  Duty  of  the 
Free  States,  West  India  Emancipation,  Milton,  Fenelon,  and 
Napoleon — a  wide  range  of  subjects,  to  all  of  which  he 
brought  his  clear  spiritual  vision  and  kindling  moral  ear- 
nestness. All  his  essays  are  sermons,  as  Emerson's  essays 
are.     They  could  not  be  anything  else. 

In  his  attitude  toward  the  slavery  question,  Channing  was 
between  two  fires.  The  radical  abolitionists  like  Garrison 
thought  him  timid  and  time-serving  because  he  did  not 
endorse  all  their  methods  of  propaganda.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  gentlemen  of  property  and  standing  in  his  own 
church  were  so  incensed  at  his  anti-slavery  views  that  some 
of  them  refused  to  speak  to  him  on  the  street,  and  some  only 
coldly  bowed.  There  is  no  justification  for  the  scathing 
attack  on  Channing  as  a  moral  reformer  which  you  will  find 
in  Maria  Weston  Chapman's  appendix  to  the  Autobiography 
of  Harriet  Martineau.  Lydia  Maria  Child  has  done  him 
full  justice.  Channing  had  to  bear  much,  first  from  the  fol- 
lowers of  Garrison  who  could  not  understand  why  he  was 
not  in  sympathy  with  everything  they  said  and  did,  and 
secondly  from  the  standing  committee  of  his  parish  which 
refused  the  use  of  the  vestry  of  the  church  for  a  memorial 
meeting  to  his  friend.  Dr.  Charles  Follen,  an  Abolitionist. 

Channing  happened  to  be  in  Newport  when  the  Broad- 
cloth Mob  hauled  Garrison  through  the  streets  of  Boston, 
but  the  outrage  inspired  his  pen.  In  his  pamphlet  on  "Slav- 
ery" he  said :  "A  man  cannot  be  property  in  the  sight  of  God 
and  justice  because  he  is  a  rational,  innnortal,  moral  being; 
because  created  in  God's  image,  and  therefore  in  the  highest 
sense  his  child;  because  created  to  unfold  Godlike  facul- 
ties and  to  govern  himself  by  a  Divine  law  written  on  his 


146 

heart  and  republished  in  God's  Word."  Here  speaks  the 
spirit  of  the  man  who,  as  a  child,  was  strongly  impressed  by 
the  faithfulness  of  the  blacks  he  saw  in  his  own  household 
and  in  neighboring  households.  Among  them  was  "Duchess" 
Quamino,  a  free  black  of  royal  appearance,  the  epitaph  for 
whose  tombstone  was  written  by  him. 

In  his  application  of  Christ's  teachings  to  social  prob- 
lems Channing  was  far  in  advance  of  his  day,  even  of  our 
day.  In  a  period  when  dancing  and  the  theatre  were  banned 
by  the  pious-minded  he  could  conceive  of  a  rational  place 
for  such  recreations.  He  watched  with  interest  such  experi- 
ments as  Brook  Farm  and  the  Hopedale  Community.  In  his 
own  time  he  was  the  centre  of  inspiration  for  such  social  re- 
formers as  Dorothea  Dix  and  Joseph  Tuckerman  and  Bron- 
son  Alcott.  We  are  amazed  in  reading  Channing  to  note  how 
he  anticipated  in  thought  if  not  in  act  modern  methods  of 
dealing  with  poverty,  intemperance,  child  labor,  the  stagnant 
life  of  the  poor,  industrial  injustice.  So  great  was  his  rever- 
ence for  man  that  he  cried  out  when  told  of  the  custom  of 
flogging  then  in  vogue  in  the  navy:     "What!    strike  a  man!" 

It  was  this  awe  in  the  presence  of  the  Divine  upspringing 
in  the  human  that  made  Channing  sympathize  in  spirit, 
though  not  in  doctrine,  with  Theodore  Parker,  the  gift  of 
God  to  slave-ridden  America,  and  that  caused  him  to  view 
without  alarm  the  radical  trend  of  the  theology  of  the  Tran- 
scendentalists,  with  whose  vagaries,  however,  he  had  no 
patience. 

Practically  every  year  of  his  Boston  ministry  he  went  to 
Newport,  or,  rather,  to  Oakland  Farm  at  Portsmouth,  for  a 
long  summer  holiday.  Here,  with  his  wife  and  children  and 
relatives  and  congenial  friends  about  him,  he  felt  that  his 
happiness,  in  spite  of  ill  health  and  the  attacks  of  his  oppo- 
nents, was  perfect.  He  loved  trees  and  flowers,  the  dawn 
and  sunset.  He  said :  "I  sometimes  think  that  I  have  a  pecu- 
liar enjoyment  of  a  fine  atmosphere.  It  is  to  me  a  spiritual 
pleasure  rather  than  physical,  and  seems  to  be  not  unworthy 
of  our  future  existence."  Again  he  wrote :  "What  a  blessing 
such  day  as  this  is!  So  much  a  creature  of  the  senses  am  I 
still,  that  I  can  find  on  such  a  morning  that  it  is  easier  to  hope 
in  God,  and  to  anticipate  a  boundless  good  for  my  race." 

From  his  long  retreats",  says  Chadwick,  "he  went  back  to 


147 

the  city  with  a  dewy  freshness  on  his  mind  and  with  the  salt 
air  reminiscent  in  the  tang  of  many  a  bracing  thought." 

It  was  his  custom  every  summer  to  preach  to  the  farm- 
ers and  fishermen  in  the  Portsmouth  Christian  Church. 
Fashionable  folk  drove  out  to  hear  him  on  such  occasions, 
but  he  resented  their  coming.  One  day  he  began  his  sermon 
in  his  low,  thrilling  voice,  without  preface  or  text,  "This  is  a 
beautiful  world".  You  remember  how  the  aged  St.  John 
used  to  be  brought,  so  runs  tradition,  into  the  Christian 
assembly  at  Ephesus,  that  he  might  merely  say  to  them  all, 
"Little  children,  love  one  another".  That  was  Channing's 
basic  thought,  "This  is  a  beautiful  world". 

Sometimes  he  went  into  Newport  and  preached  for  Mr. 
Brooks,  whom  he  ordained  in  1837,  and  at  whose  marriage  he 
officiated.  He  took  part  with  joy  in  the  year  1836  in  the 
dedication  as  a  Unitarian  Congregational  Church  of  the  old 
meeting-house  on  Mill  Street,  in  which  he  had  sat  as  a  child 
and  listened  to  Dr.  Hopkins  and  in  which  he  had  preached 
his  first  sermon  in  Newport. 

"One  Sunday  afternoon",  Mr.  Brooks  tells  us,  "when  the 
impatient  horses  of  the  fashionable  hearers  were  pawing  and 
stamping  in  the  street,  Dr.  Channing,  insisting  upon  the  exist- 
ence and  nearness  of  evil  from  which  we,  too,  needed  deliv- 
erance, and  of  people's  insensibility  to  it,  exclaimed,  'They 
are  as  inditferent  to  it  as  the  very  animals  that  stand  waiting 
for  them  at  the  church  door!'  " 

It  was  at  Mr.  Brooks's  ordination  that  Dr.  Channing, 
giving  him  the  charge,  said  in  thrilling  tones,  "My  brother, 
help  men  to  see!"  And  that  was  what  Charles  Timothy 
Brooks  did  in  his  long  ministry  of  thirty-seven  years  in  this 
community.  He  took  the  torch  of  truth  from  Channing's 
hand  and  passed  it  on  to  us.  Fragrant  be  his  memory! 
Like  Channing  and  their  common  Master,  he  was  an  Apostle 
of  Light. 

On  April  7,  1842,  his  sixty-second  birthday,  Channing 
preached  his  last  sermon  in  Federal  Street  Church.  On  August 
1st,  he  delivered  his  great  address  at  Lenox  on  the  eighth  an- 
niversary of  West  India  Emancipation,  closing  with  these 
words :  "O  come,  thou  kingdom  of  heaven,  for  which  we  daily 
pray!  Come  Friend  and  Saviour  of  the  race,  who  didst  shed 
thy  blood  on  the  cross  to  reconcile  man  to  man  and  earth  to 


148 

heaven!  Come,  Father  Ahiiighty,  and  crown  with  thine 
omnipotence  the  humble  strivings  of  thy  children,  to  sub- 
vert oppression  and  wrong,  to  spread  light  and  freedom  and 
peace  and  joy,  the  truth  and  spirit  of  Thy  Son,  through  the 
whole  earth!" 

On  the  2d  of  October,  1842,  he  lay  dying  in  an  inn  at 
Bennington,  Vermont,  and  as  he  looked  out  on  the  lovely 
Green  Mountains  his  last  words  w^ere:  "I  have  received 
many  messages  from  the  spirit."  He  passed  onward  and 
upward  looking  eastward,  waiting  for  the  dawn  of  another 
morrow. 

When  the  sacred  dust  was  carried  to  Boston,  the  bells 
of  the  Boman  Catholic  Cathedral  were  tolled  with  all  the 
rest  in  the  city,  for  when  the  saintly  Bishop  Cheverus  died 
had  not  Channing  honored  his  memory?  And  when  Dean 
Stanley  visited  Boston  he  asked  Phillips  Brooks  to  take  him 
first  of  all  to  Channing's  grave  in  Mount  Auburn. 

In  his  great  work,  "God  in  History",  the  learned  and 
devout  Baron  Bunsen  called  Channing  a  "grand  Christian 
saint  and  man  of  God — a  prophet  of  the  Christian  conscious- 
ness regarding  the  future  and  destined  to  exert  an  increasing 
influence.  If  such  a  man  be  not  a  prophet  of  God's  presence 
in  humanity,  I  know  of  none  such." 

In  France,  M.  Laboulaye,  of  the  Institute,  translator  of 
Channing's  works  into  French  (and  into  how  many  lan- 
guages they  have  been  translated!)  has  said:  "If  Channing 
were  but  one  sectary  more  in  the  religious  Babel,  I  should 
not  have  called  attention  to  him,  but  he  was  a  good  man  who, 
all  his  life,  consumed  by  one  sentiment  and  idea,  sought 
truth  and  justice  with  all  the  forces  of  his  intellect  and  loved 
God  and  man  with  all  the  strength  of  his  heart." 

M.  Lavolee,  a  Boman  Catholic  scholar,  whose  book, 
"Channing:  Sa  Vie  et  Sa  Doctrine",  was  crowned  by  the 
Academy  of  Moral  and  Political  Sciences,  compares  him  with 
Fenelon,  saying:  "Both  have  vowed  to  Jesus  a  love  equally 
lively  and  profound;  but,  while  the  one  adores  and  prays, 
the  other  contemplates  and  reveres." 

And  the  Quaker  poet,  Whittier,  cries: — 

"In  vain  shall  Rome  her  portals  bar, 
And  shut  from  him  her  saintly  prize, 
Whom  in  the  world's  great  calendar 
All  men  shall  canonize." 


REV.  DR.  EZRA  STILES 


A  Paper  read  before  the  Newport  Historical  Society 
July  10th,   L917 


By 
Rev.  RODERICK  TERRY,  D.D. 


EZRA  STILES 


It  was  the  golden  age  of  Newport's  history,  when  the 
afterglow  of  the  brilhant  Hght  shed  upon  its  hterary  hfe  by 
the  presence  of  Bishop  Berkeley  culminated  in  the  Philo- 
sophical Association,  whose  weekly  meetings  furnished  the 
thought  which  brought  about  the  existence  of  the  Redwood 
Library.  At  this  time  Newport  was  among  the  leading 
cities  of  the  colonies  in  intellectual  activities,  and  seems  to 
have  deserved  that  name  which  was  given  to  it,  "The  Athens 
of  America."  At  that  period  of  our  history  we  ranked  among 
the  first  mercantile  centers;  the  sails  of  Newport  ships 
whitening  every  known  sea;  while  successful  merchants 
built  their  beautiful  houses  and  still  more  beautiful  gardens 
which  became  noted  throughout  the  world.  The  hearts  of 
men  were  then  thrilled  with  the  thought  of  possible  freedom 
from  the  persecutions  and  enthralment  of  England,  and 
Newport  took  its  place  also  in  the  forefront  of  this  patriotic 
movemeiit. 

During  these  golden  years,  our  city  drew  to  itself  many 
men  of  renown — statesmen,  soldiers,  scholars  and  artists — 
but  none  who  brought  to  its  life  richer  gifts  of  learning  and 
piety  than  did  Ezra  Stiles.  He  stands  prominently  forth  as 
a  leader  in  the  intellectual  life  of  the  city,  as  one 
of  the  most  influential  among  its  religious  teachers, 
and  as  a  patriot  whose  clarion  voice  called  out  for  freedom, 
and  roused  the  willing  minds  of  his  neighbors  to  serious 
thinking  of  liberty,  and  to  overt  acts  of  so-called  rebellion. 

Ezra  Stiles  was  born  in  North  Haven,  Connecticut,  De- 
cember 10,  1727,  his  father  being  the  pastor  of  the  Congrega- 
tional Church  of  that  village.     The  Stiles  ancestry,  both  in 

The  references  in  this  paper  are  taken  from  "The  Life  of  Ezra  Stiles", 
by  his  son-in-law  Abiel  Holmes,  printed  in  Boston  1798  ;  and  "The  Literary- 
Diary  of  Ezra  Stiles",  three  volumes,  New  York,  1901;  and  "Itineraries  and 
Correspondence  of  Ezra  Stiles",  New  Haven,  1916.  These  last  two  works 
are  edited  by  Francis  Bowditch  Dexter,  Litt.  D.,  who  has  kindly  given  per- 
mission for  the  use  of  these  quotations. 


152 

this  country  and  in  England,  were  of  the  strong  Puritan 
Dissenter  type,  all  being  CongregationaUsts  of  that  sturdy 
and  intellectual  quality  which  belonged  to  so  many  of  the 
earlier  residents  of  New  England. 

His  mother  was  Keziah  Taylor,  whose  father,  the  Rev. 
Edward  Taylor  of  Westfield,  Massachusetts,  had  fled  from 
the  persecutions  which  his  family  and  friends  had  sutfered 
through  being  Dissenters,  and  had  come  to  America  in  1668. 
He  was  of  the  same  intellectual  and  religious  stuff  as  were 
the  Stiles.  There  was,  however,  in  the  mother's  ancestry  a 
strain  of  nobility  and  of  attachment  to  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, which  came  from  her  great-grandmother,  Mabel  Har- 
leykendon,  who,  a  descendant  of  kings  and  of  the  English 
nobility,  had  come  to  this  country  and  had  married  a  gover- 
nor of  Connecticut.  With  a  knowledge  of  this  commingling 
of  the  staunch  blood  of  the  Dissenter  with  the  more  gentle 
blood  of  the  nobility  of  England,  we  are  able  to  understand 
some  of  the  characteristics  which  will  later  appear  in  Ezra 
Stiles. 

We  are  told  that  in  Dr.  Stiles'  infancy  his  constitution 
was  so  feeble  that  it  was  long  doubted  whether  he  would 
survive  the  age  of  childhood,  and  only  by  exercising  the 
greatest  care  by  regulation  of  his  diet  and  daily  exercise  in 
the  open  air,  was  he  able  not  only  to  survive  that  period, 
but  to  perform  during  all  the  years  of  his  life  constant  and 
unwearied  labors. 

His  intellectual  activity  was  noticeable  even  from  his 
youth.  At  the  age  of  twelve  he  was  prepared  to  enter 
college,  but  delayed  matriculating  until  his  lifteenth  year, 
when  in  1742  he  became  an  undergraduate  at  Yale.  For 
thirteen  years  he  lived  in  that  University  town,  remaining 
there  after  his  graduation  pursuing  independent  studies, 
and  acting  as  a  tutor  in  the  college. 

During  these  years  he  passed  through  curious  and  inter- 
esting phases  in  his  religious  experience,  and  not  until  the 
end  of  this  period  was  he  thoroughly  confirmed  in  his  belief. 
A  man  of  keen  intellectual  discernment,  and  ever  seeking  for 
new  light  upon  all  matters  scientific,  literary  and  theological, 
it  was  impossible  for  him  to  separate  his  intellectual  pro- 
cesses from  his  religious  belief,  and  with  the  utmost  delib- 


153 

eration  and  the  broadest  examinationof  all  facts  bearing  on 
each  particular  question,  he  decided  in  regard  to  his  faith, 
not  according  to  that  he  had  imbibed  in  his  youth,  nor 
according  to  that  which  was  held  by  his  fellow  religionists, 
but  every  problem  was  thoroughly  studied  and  his  conclu- 
sions were  firmly  established.  In  no  case  was  the  instruction 
of  the  apostle  more  fully  carried  out  in  regard  to  these 
matters  of  belief,  "let  every  man  be  fully  persuaded  in  his 
own  mind." 

We  are  all  well  aware  of  the  character  of  the  faith  of 
the  Congregational  churches  throughout  New  England  at 
the  time  of  his  birth.  Like  so  many  of  his  contemporaries 
he  grew  up  in  that  belief  which  we  know  as  Orthodox  Cal- 
vinism, and  probably  had  little  more  idea  of  criticising  the 
prevailing  faith  than  had  any  of  his  neighbors;  but  it  must 
have  been  pretty  early  in  his  life  that  he  began  to  be  troubled 
in  regard  to  his  theological  views,  for  he  declares  that  when 
he  reached  the  age  of  nineteen  imagining  himself  to  have 
experienced  and  ended  the  period  of  doubt,  he  united  with 
the  Congregational  Church  of  which  his  father  was  the 
Pastor.  But  this  period  of  doubt  was  not  ended,  and  his 
mind  soon  again  became  troubled.  He  came  into  contact 
with  the  Deists,  a  set  of  thinkers  at  that  time  of  very  consid- 
erable influence  in  New  England,  who,  while  they  professed 
faith  in  God,  were  yet  uncertain  regarding  any  authority  to 
be  placed  upon  the  sacred  Scriptures.  It  was  a  phase  of  the 
never-ending  conflict  between  reason  and  childlike  faith; 
and  naturally  a  man  with  such  a  mind  as  Dr.  Stiles  at  first 
desired  to  place  his  whole  confidence  in  reason,  attempting  to 
support  himself  in  his  inherited  beliefs  by  the  study  of  the 
recommended  theologians.  At  length  he  thought  himself 
satisfied  in  his  own  mind,  and  in  1749  was  licensed  to  preach 
the  Gospel.  But  he  exercised  the  right  very  sparingly,  and 
indeed  soon  gave  up  preaching  altogether,  until  his  faith 
should  have  been  more  firmly  established.  As  he  himself 
expresses  it: 

*  "My  doubt  increasing  until  1752,  I  deter- 
mined to  lay  aside  preaching,  and  actually 
adopted  the  study  of   the  law,   and   took   the 


*Holmes,  p.  36 


154 

attorney's  oath  in  1753.  But  at  the  same  time  I 
most  assiduously  applied  to  the  study  of  the 
evidences  of  Revelation,  read  through  the  Bible 
with  the  greatest  criticism  and  examination, 
compared  its  several  parts  with  each  other,  and 
the  whole  with  profane  history,  and  so  far  em- 
phasized and  felt  the  prevalence  of  evidence  in 
its  favor  that  by  1754  I  had  acquired  a  strong 
and  prevailing  preponderency  to  the  belief  of 

Revelation I  could  not  see  anything 

against  the  fulfillment  of  prophesy  and  the 
Christian  miracle,  but  what  would  equally  over- 
turn the  credit  of  all  history.  I  made  these 
researches  only  for  the  sake  of  my  personal 
religion,  and  that  I  might  be  at  peace  with  God. 
....  Having  acquired  this  satisfaction  con- 
cerning Revelation,  I  next  in  1754  availed  my- 
self of  journeys  to  Boston,  New  York  and 
Philadelphia,  and  determined  by  history  to  in- 
form myself  of  all  the  sects  in  the  Christian 
world.  This  summer  at  Newport  I  went  to  the 
Quakers'  Meeting,  at  Boston  to  the  Congrega- 
tional and  Episcopal  Churches,  at  New  York 
the  Episcopal  and  Dutch  Calvinist,  at  Phila- 
delphia to  the  Quakers,  the  Roman  Catholics 
and  others,  with  a  fair  and  unprejudiced  mind, 
and  I  was  soon  confirmed  in  that  form  of  wor- 
ship in  which  I  had  been  educated,  and  which  I 
was  convinced  was  the  nearest  the  apostolic 
form  and  Scriptural  model. 

"In  1755,  my  doubts  having  given  way,  I 
could  honestly  devote  myself  to  the  service  of 
the  Great  Immanuel.  Just  as  I  had  emerged 
from  Deism,  or  rather  the  darkness  of  skepti- 
cism, it  pleased  the  Head  of  the  Church  to  open 
the  door  at  Newport."' 

How  thoroughly  this  religious  experience  is  in  sympathy 
with  his  strong  intellectual  mind!  which  was  always  look- 
ing for  information,  never  satisfied  until  he  had  learned  all 
that  could  be  learned,  and  from  it  made  his  clear  deductions. 


155 

Yet  was  lie  no  worshipper  of  his  own  intellect;     he  had 
respect  for  higher  authority. 

"I  begin  to  be  confirmed  in  this,"  he  writes, 
"that  there  is  not  a  single  doctrine  or  point  of 
pure  revelation  whose  rationale  is  revealed  and 
explained  so  clearly  that  taking  away  the  sup- 
port of  certain  revelation,  it  would  stand  on  the 
internal  e  vidence,  or  be  supported  of  itself 
alone  upon  the  reasonings  adduced.  We  can  go 
but  little  further  than  to  show  that  a  doctrine  is 
not  inconsistent  with  reason.  I  would  rather 
deduce  the  reasonableness  of  a  doctrine  from 
its  being  revealed  by  God  than  infer  its  being 
revealed  from  the  supposed  reason  we  may  per- 
ceive in  it.  My  wish,  therefore,  is  that  the  truths 
of  our  holy  religion  be  no  longer  mutilated  and 
dishonored  by  human  reasonings  upon  them, 
but  bethought  and  delivered  more  didactically 
and  directly  from  the  Bible,  with  a  'Thus  saith 
the  Lord.'  " 

As  we  might  expect,  his  faith,  built  upon  such  a  foun- 
dation, was  firm  and  unchangeable  during  the  remainder  of 
his  life.  No  longer  influenced  by  inherited  ideas,  by  no 
means  of  that  class  of  indolent  mentalities  who  take  the 
easiest  course,  he  was  one  who  fulfilled  the  Biblical  instruc- 
tion to  "Prove  all  things,  and  hold  fast  that  which  is  good." 

It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  however,  that  such  a  course 
of  theological  education  should  have  brought  down  upon 
him  the  criticism  and  misunderstanding  of  his  neighbors. 
The  mere  fact  that,  as  he  said,  he  visited  all  the  different 
churches  with  an  open  mind  to  their  good  points,  that  if  he 
found  any  that  seemed  to  him  preferable  to  the  one  in  which 
he  had  been  educated  he  might  unite  himself  with  it,  natu- 
rally resulted  in  misunderstanding  upon  the  part  of  his 
fellow-Congregationalists,  as  well  as  those  of  other  faiths, 

*  "I  have  differed,"  he  writes,  "from  most 
of  my  brethren  in  New  England  in  a  too  great 


•Literary  Diary,  January  19,  1777 


156 

extent  of  charity,  judged  more  of  different  com- 
munions true  children  of  God  than  they  did. 
And  when  I  first  set  out  in  life  I  had  a  much 
better  opinion  of  mankind  and  the  different 
sects  as  to  sincerity  and  virtue  than  I  now  have. 
I  never  was  particular  and  exclusive  enough  for 
cordial  and  close  union  with  any  sect,  even  my 

own my    soul    unites    most    sincerely 

with  the  whole  body  of  the  Mystical  Church, 
with  all  that  in  every  nation  fear  God  and  love 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ There  is  a  pref- 
erence of  systems,  but  no  perfect  one  on  earth. 
I  expect  no  great  felicity  from  fellowship  and 
open  communication  with  mankind.  But  intend 
to  become  more  and  more  the  recluse,  waiting 
for  the  rest  of  Paradise,  where  I  foresee  my  coul 
will  unite  with  affection  and  acquiescence  in 
eternal  universal  harmony." 

These  are  very  startling  phrases  for  a  New  England 
Congregationalist  in  the  eighteenth  century,  and  proved  that 
had  Dr.  Stiles  lived  at  a  later  period,  he  would  have  shared, 
indeed  probably,  have  led  in  the  broadening  views  which 
have  distinguished  the  Protestant  Church  in  the  last  fifty 
years. 

Naturally  perhaps  some  of  the  other  denominations 
misunderstood  this  breadth  of  feeling  and  desire  to  see  the 
good  in  everj'^thing,  and  from  the  fact  that  he  attended  their 
services,  were  led  to  believe  that  he  might  become  one  of 
them  ,for  Dr.  Stiles  writes, 

*'Tn  January  of  the  year  1755  I  had  a 
formal  invitation  from  the  Episcopal  Church  in 
Stratford,  Connecticut,  to  conform  and  succeed 
(as  rector)  Dr.  Johnson,  lately  appointed  Pres- 
ident of  Kings  College,  now  Columbia  College, 
New  York,  and  before  that,  in  October,  1752,  I 
sustained  a  vigorous  application  to  take  orders 
and  become  a  minister  in  the  Episcopal  Church 


*Holmes,  p.  40 


157 

in  Newport,  then  offering  a  living  of  two  hun- 
dred pounds  sterling.  I  thank  God  that  I  was  not 
disposed  to  profess  a  mode  of  religion  which  I 
did  not  believe  for  the  sake  of  the  living." 

Through  Dr.  Stiles'  mature  years  he  remained  satisfied 
with  the  faith  of  his  youth.  As  he  himself  often  said,  the 
more  he  investigated  other  religions,  the  more  satisfied  he 
was  that  the  doctrines  of  his  church  were  the  nearest  to 
those  prompted  by  the  Scriptures.  He  never  regretted  that 
his  religious  home  was  in  the  Congregational  Church. 

This  incomplete  picture  of  his  religious  thinking  may 
well  come  to  an  end  by  these  words  regarding  his  personal 
character,  written  by  his  son-in-law. 

*  "Piety  like  a  golden  chain  has  served  at 
once  to  give  a  connection  and  ornament  to  the 
work,  which  the  assemblage  of  genius,  learn- 
ing, and  the  most  refined  morality  could  never 
have  furnished.  Were  any  one  of  his  Christian 
graces  to  be  discriminated,  it  should,  perhaps, 
be  his  humility,  a  virtue  seldom  attached  to 
great  intellectual  talent  and  to  high  stations, 
but  which  confer  the  truest  dignity  on  both." 
"How  absolutely  contemptible,"  writes  Stiles 
in  his  Diary,  "is  a  man  glorying  in  some  little 
eminency  among  his  fellow  worms." 

Not  less  striking  than  his  theological  liberality,  and 
perhaps  more  noticeable,  was  his  intellectual  acquisitive- 
ness. His  mind,  like  a  great  sponge,  absorbed  every  item 
of  knowledge  which  came  within  its  reach;  into  the  natural 
sciences,  into  linguistic  studies,  into  the  law,  he  plunged 
deeply  and  continuously,  almost  to  the  same  extent  that  he 
buried  himself  in  theological  thought. 

In  scientific  studies  he  was  ever  thirsting  after  know- 
ledge. When  Benjamin  Franklin  in  1749  sent  to  Yale 
College  the  first  electrical  machine  to  come  into  New  Eng- 
land, Ezra  Stiles  was  the  one  of  all  the  people  studying  in 
New  Haven  to  apply  himself  to  an  examination  and  mastery 
*Holmes,  p.  377 


158 

of  this  new  phenomenon  of  nature  and  thus  to  make  the  first 
electrical  experiments  in  New  England.  A  correspondence 
with  Franklin  began  at  that  time,  which  continued  during 
the  rest  of  his  life. 

He  was  ever  seeking  for  knowledge  from  every  possible 
source.  He  writes  to  Mr,  Bruce,  a  celebrated  traveler  of 
England,  to  solicit  more  explicit  information  on  parts  of 
Abyssinian  geography  and  history;  to  Sir  William  Jones, 
President  of  the  Asiatic  Society,  expressing  great  inclination 
to  see  a  copy  of  the  Patriarchal  Ages  and  Chronology,  as 
found  in  the  Pentateuchs  of  Cochin.  Indeed  from  that 
study  of  his  on  Clarke  street  there  went  out  questions  to  all 
parts  of  the  world,  to  England,  France,  Greece,  the  Holy 
Land  and  Astrachan. 

His  name  was  known  so  favorably  abroad  that  the 
University  of  Edinburgh  conferred  upon  him  the  degree  of 
LL.  D.,  and  naturally  the  colleges  of  his  own  country, 
Princeton,  Dartmouth  and  Yale,  and  many  learned  societies 
continually  honored  him. 

His  deep  interest  in  scientific  studies  was  keen.  In 
regard  to  astronomy  his  Diary  is  replete  with  notes  refer- 
ring to  the  movements  of  the  Heavenly  bodies.  His  de- 
scription and  notes  upon  the  transit  of  Venus  in  1765,  and 
the  transit  of  Mercury,  compose  a  quarto  volume.  He  was 
interested  in  geography,  and  for  a  long  time  puzzled  in 
regard  to  the  question  as  to  whether  Asia  and  America 
made  one  continent,  but  in  1769  he  writes  to  his  satisfac- 
tion, 

*  "It  is  now  known  that  Asia  is  separated 
from  America  by  water,  as  certainly  appears 
from  the  Baron  Dulfeldfs  voyage  around  the 
north  of  Europe  into  the  Pacific  Ocean." 

But  not  alone  in  the  matter  of  science  was  his  eagerness 
for  information  noticeable.  He  had  a  thorough  knowledge, 
we  are  told,  of  the  Hebrew,  Greek  and  Latin  languages,  and 
very  few  if  any  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  had' made  so  great 
progress  in  a  knowledge  of  Samaritan,  Chaldee,  Syriac 
and  Arabic.  On  the  Persian  and  Coptic  he  bestowed  some 
♦Holmes,  p.  76 


159 

attention.  The  French  he  wrote  with  facility.  At  the  age  of 
twenty-three  he  pronounced  in  honor  of  Governor  Law  the 
first  of  a  large  number  of  Latin  orations,  which  were  called 
forth  upon  every  occasion  of  importance,  and  in  the  giving 
of  which  he  was  an  adept.  One  in  which  we  may  be  partic- 
ularly interested  was  at  the  Commencement  of  Yale  College 
in  1753,  when  he  pronounced  a  Latin  oration  in  memory  of 
Bishop  Berkeley,  who  died  in  January  of  that  year. 

It  is  a  satisfaction  for  some  of  us  to  find  that  he  was  a 
strong  upholder  of  the  study  of  the  classics,  and  entered 
into  discussion  with  Rev.  Mr.  Rousmeyer,  the  Moravian 
minister  at  Newport,  upon  the  question  of  the  relative 
merits  of  the  ancient  and  modern  writers,  for  his  friend 
desired  to  substitute  modern  Christian  for  ancient  pagan 
authors.     Dr.  Stiles'  judgment  on  this  is  as  follows: 

*  "There  can  be  but  one  objection,  that  the 
Greek  of  Homer,  Xenophon  and  Thucydides, 
and  the  Latin  of  the  authors  of  the  Augustan 
Age  must  be  purer  than  the  moderns,  the  He- 
brew of  Moses  and  Isaiah  purer  than  that  of  the 
later  Jews,  so  that  I  rather  incline  to  the  an- 
cients— banishing  Horace,  Juvenal  and  the  un- 
chaste tribes,  and  making  choice  of  the  best — 
Cicero,  Justin,  Tacitus,  Virgil  for  Latin,  Homer, 
Xenophon,  Plato  and  Dionysius  among  the 
Greeks  I  think  cannot  be  excelled  for  purity 
of  language." 

Professor  Meigs  writes  of  him: 

t  "He  was  familiarly  acquainted  with  the 
jurisprudence  and  civil  politics  both  of  ancient 
and  modern  nations,  the  treasures  of  ancient 
history  were  made  his  own  by  diligent  investi- 
gation, facilitated  by  his  thorough  acquaintance 
with  languages,  and  of  modern  history  he  pos- 
sessed an  exact  knowledge.  His  historical  in- 
formation has  seldom  been  equalled.  Theology, 


*Diary,  April  2,  1771 
tHolmes,  p.  354 


160 

however,  was  his  most  favorite  study.  To  per- 
fect himself  in  this  was  the  ultimate  aim  and 
object  to  which  his  vast  and  various  scientific 
attainments  were  directed  and  devoted.  I  have 
known  no  inan  to  express  so  sublime  and  mag- 
nificent conceptions  of  the  majesty  of  God  as 
exhibited  in  the  works  of  Christ." 

It  appears  strange  that  so  few  books  were  publislied  by 
such  a  learned  man,  and  we  must  conclude  that  in  regard 
to  each  study  he  considered  himself  as  one  always  "pressing 
toward  the  mark"  of  satisfactory  knowledge  upon  any  sub- 
ject, and  never  as  "having  attained."  He  had,  however,  in 
mind  the  issuing  of  important  works,  for  in  1762  he  writes, 

*  "This  day  I  first  conceived  the  thoughts 
of  writing  the  history  of  the  world,  which  has 
never  been  well  written  according  to  the 
genius  and  dignity  of  history.  True  and  faith- 
ful narratives  are  as  necessary  to  history  as 
good  books  to  a  library.  A  roomful  of  books 
thrown  together  in  a  confused,  huge  heap  is  no 
library.  The  same  of  history,  especially  of  the 
world.  There  is  a  purity,  grandeur  and  dig- 
nity and  enlargement  and  comprehension  in 
true,  genuine  history;  of  an  empire,  which 
none  ever  reached  but  Livy, — of  the  world, 
which  was  never  yet  reached.  Voluminous 
writing  is  not  necessary  to  history.  The  history 
of  the  world  may  be  contained  completely  in 
one  quarto  volume,  especially  of  such  a  small 
world  as  this." 

And  from  a  letter  written  to  him  by  Thomes  Hutchinson 
of  Boston  in  1764,  we  learn  that  he  had  the  intention  of 
writing  a  history  of  this  country.  Neither  of  these  plans 
came  to  fruition,  and  the  result  of  his  intellectual  labors  as 
preserved  by  the  press  are  a  large  number  of  Sermons  and 
Addresses,  and  a  few  small  volumes, — "The  History  of  the 
Judges  (Regicides)"  in  1796;  also  it  is  said  an  "Account  of 
•Itinerary,  p.  51 


161 

the  Settlement  of  Bristol,  Rhode  Island,"  in  1785,  and  Ham- 
mett  in  his  "Bibliography  of  Newport"  speaks  of  a  book 
called  "The  Memoirs  of  Block  Island  or  Manisses,"  written 
in  1762.  "The  above  title,"  he  adds,  "is  taken  from  the 
collections  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society.  The 
book  itself  is  not  in  their  library,  nor  is  there  any  mention  of 
it  in  the  manuscrii^ts  of  Dr.  Stiles  in  Yale  College  Library." 
It  would  be  interesting  to  know^  what  authority  the  Massa- 
chusetts Historical  Society  had  for  mentioning  such  a  sup- 
posed book. 

The  four  volumes,  three  of  Selections  froin  Dr.  Stiles' 
remarkable  Literary  Diary,  and  one  from  his  Itinerary,  so 
often  referred  to  in  this  article,  are  mines  of  information 
in  regard  to  the  events  of  his  time  and  his  own  investiga- 
tions. Nothing  escaped  him.  He  records  natural  phenom- 
ena most  minutely.  Being  one  of  the  few  fortunate  indi- 
viduals at  that  time  possessed  of  a  thermometer,  he  records 
patiently  day  by  day  its  figures.  Distinguished  strangers 
passing  through  Newport  are  mentioned  by  him.  On  one 
occasion,  as  an  astonishing  fact,  a  priest  of  the  Church  of 
Rome  visits  the  city  on  his  travels,  and  of  course  this 
searcher  after  knowledge  must  have  interviews  with  him. 
He  studies  the  landscape,  the  lives  of  the  birds,  the  actions 
of  the  tides.  In  one  of  his  walks  he  makes  an  interesting 
discovery,  which  he  thus  records  in  his  Itinerary: 

*  "June  22,  1767. 
1728     BELIEVE 
10     IN 
21     CHRIST 
&    LIVE  IN  NO  SIN. 

"This  is  an  inscription  which  I  took  off  a 
rock  five  and  one-half  feet  long,  two  and  one- 
half  feet  widest,  on  the  shore  at  Brenton's 
Point,  a  little  north  of  the  river,  and  at  the 
southwest  corner  of  Rhode  Island,  five  miles 
southwest  of  Newport.  It  is  supposed  to  have 
been  put  on  by  Rev.  Nathaniel   Clapp.     Two 


•Itinerary,  p.  230 


162 

weeks  later  I  viewed  a  stone  at  Price's  Cove. 
The  stone,  light  grey  and  hard,  the  inscription 
'8  21  1728  GOD  PRESERVE  ALL  MAN- 
KIND' is  daily  trodden  upon  by  the  passing 
fishermen.  The  letters  are  done  in  the  same 
manner  as  those  at  the  point  about  a  mile  west- 
ward. I  suppose  the  10  and  21  under  1728 
denote  21st  day  of  10th  month,  or  October  21, 
1728.  Mr.  Clapp  died  in  Newport  1745,  having 
labored  in  the  ministry  from  1695,  or  fifty  years. 

"On  another  stone  is  a  number  of  seeming 
incisions  of  the  Wedge  or  Runic  kind,  but  evi- 
dently the  work  of  nature  only." 

In  conjunction  with  Dr.  Samuel  Hopkins  he  issued  a 
Manifesto  against  slavery,  in  connection  with  which  it  is 
interesting  to  note  this  item  in  his  Diary,  dated  February 
26,  1775. 

"I  propounded  my  negro  servant  Newport  to  be  admit- 
ted into  full  communion  in  the  church." 

This  man  was  bought  for  Dr.  Stiles  at  Cape  Mount  on 
the  coast  of  Guinea  in  1757,  when  supposed  to  be  about 
eleven  years  of  age,  in  exchange  for  a  hogshead  of  whiskey. 
We  have  but  little  information  regarding  the  appear- 
ence  of  Dr.  Stiles,  the  following  description  which  was  made 
about  the  time  that  he  came  to  Newport  being  all  that 
seems  to  have  been  preserved.  It  was  given  by  his  son-in- 
law. 

*  "A  man  of  low  stature,  of  a  very  delicate 
structure,  and  of  a  well  proportioned  form, 
whose  eyes  were  of  a  dark  grey  color,  and  in  a 
moment  of  concentration  singularly  penetrat- 
ing; his  voice  was  clear  and  energetic,  his 
countenance,  especially  in  conversation  ex- 
pressive of  mildness  and  benignity,  but  if  occa- 
sion required  it,  becoming  the  index  of  majesty 
and  authority." 

The  first  acquaintance  Dr.  Stiles  had  with  Newport  was 
in  1754,  in  the  course  of  a  journey  as  far  east  as  Boston.     It 

*Holmes,  p.  349 


163 

is  probable  that  during  this  visit  he  preached  in  one  of  the 
churches  here,  and  we  know  that  the  next  year,  1755,  he  went 
again  to  Newport  in  response  to  an  invitation  to  preach  in 
the  Second  Congregational  Church,  and  in  the  following 
month,  received  a  unanimous  call  to  become  the  minister  of 
that  church. 

From  what  has  been  said  of  his  religious  experience, 
we  may  well  understand  the  truth  of  his  statement  that  this 
call  somewhat  embarrassed  him,  as  he  had  determined  to 
continue  in  the  practice  of  the  law;  and  he  returned  to  New 
Haven  resolved  not  to  accept  the  invitation.     But  he  writes, 

*  "At  length,  partly  my  friends,  especially 
my  father's  inclination,  partly  an  agreeable 
town  and  the  Redwood  Library,  partly  the 
voice  of  Providence  in  the  unanimity  of  the 
people,  partly  my  love  of  preaching  and  pros- 
pect of  more  leisure  for  pursuing  study  than  I 
could  expect  in  the  law  induced  me  to  yield, 
and  I  gave  an  affirmative  answer  to  the  church 
and  society." 

At  the  College  Commencement  in  September,  he  re- 
signed his  tutorship,  after  having  filled  that  oftice  six  years 
and  a  half. 

On  October  22  of  this  year,  1755,  he  was  ordained  the 
pastor  of  the  Second  Congregational  Church,  when  his 
father,  now  venerable  in  years,  preached  the  sermon  upon 
the  text,  "Thou,  therefore,  my  son,  be  strong  in  the  grace 
which  is  in  Christ  Jesus."  An  interesting  evidence  of  his 
power  as  a  preacher  and  of  his  parental  affection  was  con- 
tained in  this  discourse,  and  the  counsel  of  the  father  was 
received  by  the  son  with  filial  reverence,  and  seems  to  have 
had  a  considerable  influence  upon  his  pastoral  character. 

Dr.  Stiles'  personal  feelings  in  connection  with  this 
important  event  in  his  life  he  thus  describes  in  a  letter  to 
the  Reverend  Mr.  Hopkins  of  Hadley,  formerly  a  fellow- 
tutor  at  Yale  College. 

•Holmes,  p.  29 


164 

*  "Last  week  I  was  ordained  an  instructor 
of  mankind  in  the  Christian  reUgion,  but,  alas, 
who  knows  whether  he  shall  teach  men  right  or 
wrong.  Many  have  labored  through  life  as 
Christian  ministers  in  recommending  and  in- 
culcating errors,  and  how  know  I  but  I,  fond  as 
others  of  my  owai  imaginations,  foolishly  as 
others  apprehending  them  momentous  princi- 
ples, may  spend  also  my  life  to  little  purpose 
'Operose  nihil  agendo'  (in  laboriously  doing 
nothing).  But  Heaven  knows  I  seek  light.  I 
would  gladly  be  informed  on  the  genuine  inten- 
tions of  the  Great  Creator  concerning  man. 
Heaven  preserve  me  from  mistakes,  and  lead 
me  to  a  just,  rational  and  thorough  under- 
standing of  Christian  truth." 

It  must  have  struck  your  notice  that  the  church  to 
which  Dr.  Stiles  was  called  w^as  the  Second  Congrega- 
tional Church,  which  naturally  gives  rise  to  the  thought  as 
to  why  there  should  have  been  two.  It  came  about  in  the 
following  manner. 

At  the  first  forming  of  the  town  of  Newport,  the  Baptist 
Church  w^as  organized,  and  most,  if  not  all  of  the  settlers, 
having  become  dissatisfied  with  the  Congregational  spirit  in 
Boston,  allied  themselves  with  the  Baptist  Church,  and 
when  the  Massachusetts  Congregational  brethren,  con- 
cerned about  their  religious  condition,  sent  deputations  here 
to  remonstrate,  they  generally  had  to  return  home  disheart- 
ened by  failure.  Cotton  Mather  in  his  "Magnalia"  reports 
this  ill  success  thus, 

"All  the  ministers  which  the  Massachusetts 
Colony  sent  with  admonitions  after  them  could 
reclaim  very  few  of  them,  and  when  the  minis- 
ters of  this  province  have  several  times  at  their 
own  united  expenses  employed  certain  minis- 
ters of  the  Gospel  to  make  a  chargeless  tender 
of  preaching  the  word  among  them,  this  chari- 
table offer  of  the  ministers  has  been  refused." 
♦Holmes,  p.  64 


165 

But  after  that  generation  had  passed  to  their  graves, 
another  and  more  successful  effort  was  made  by  the  Congre- 
gationaUsts  of  Boston,  who  sent  one  of  their  number  to 
locate  in  Newport,  and  provided  in  large  part  for  his 
support. 

Nathaniel  Clap  was  born  in  Dorchester,  Massachusetts, 
in  1668,  and  graduated  from  Harvard  College  in  1690.  He 
came  here  in  1695,  and  remained  until  his  death  fifty  years 
later,  in  1745.  To  him  belongs  the  credit  of  having  intro- 
duced Congregationalism  to  Newport.  His  language  re- 
garding this  enterprise  is  as  follows : 

"About  evangelizing  the  paganizing  and 
perishing  plantations  bordering  upon  the  Mas- 
sachusetts province  there  had  been  anxious 
consultations,  with  supplications  to  the  Lord. 
Finally  in  the  year  1695,  a  number  of  people 
who  were  at  least  willing  to  keep  together, 
invited  one  to  come  and  preach  here  the  follow- 
ing winter,  after  which  they  urged  him  to  abide 
from  time  to  time,  until  more  than  a  score  of 
years  had  rolled  away." 

At  that  time  there  had  already  been  gathered  in  New- 
port several  congregations  of  Baptists,  companies  of 
probably  others,  so  that  this  plantation  could  hardly  have 
Quakers,  Episcopalians,  Seekers,  as  they  were  called,  and 
been  called  paganizing  and  perishing.  The  first  services 
were  held  in  the  Colony  House,  which  antedated  the  present 
State  House,  and  is  still  standing.  It  is  on  the  west  side  of 
Prison  street,  which  runs  from  the  Parade  to  the  back  of  the 
present  jail,  and  is  number  12. 

These  facts  and  some  of  the  following  1  have  obtained 
from  the  "History  of  Congregationalism  in  Newport," 
written  in  1896  by  the  Bev.  B.  W.  Wallace,  then  pastor  of 
the  United  Congregational  Church. 

He  continues, 

"A  law  soon  afterwards  was  passed,  for- 
bidding the  use  of  the  (Colony)  building  for 
religious  purposes,  and  Mr.  Clapp  and  his  little 


166 

congregation  were  left  without  a  place  in  which 
to  worship.  But  this  was  an  emergency  which 
ithey  had  the  courage  and  the  faith  to  meet, 
and  in  1696,  a  small  church  edifice  was  erected 
on  Tanner  street,  now  West  Broadway,  near 
Green  Lane,  which  is  now  Tilden  Avenue.  This 
was  then  an  important  residential  section. 
Peterson  says  that  the  settlement  of  Newport 
began  in  what  is  known  as  Tanner  Street,  and 
extended  through  to  Marlboro  Street.  After 
years  of  faithful  preparatory  labor,  the  time 
for  the  organizing  of  a  religious  body  arrived, 
and  on  the  3rd  of  November,  1720,  an  ecclesias- 
tical council  was  held  to  form  the  church,  and 
to  ordain  and  install  its  pastor.  The  first  cele- 
bration of  the  Lord's  Supper  was  on  October  1, 
1721,  when  fifty-eight  persons  partook  of  the 
Sacrament.  But  Mr.  Clapp  who,  even  according 
to  George  Whitfield  'abounds  in  good  works, 
he  gives  all  he  has  away,  and  is  wonderfully 
tender  of  little  children,'  had  certain  very  pe- 
culiar views  with  reference  to  church  disci- 
pline, and  soon  surprised  everybody  by  a 
positive  refusal  to  administer  the  Lord's  Supper 
to  the  church,  and  also  to  baptize  the  child  of 
one  of  his  church  members.  His  reasons  were, 
so  far  as  we  can  understand  them,  that  in  his 
judgment  his  church  members  were  not  Chris- 
tian enough  ito  engage  in  so  holy  an  act  as 
breaking  bread  in  remembrance  of  Christ,  and 
in  the  case  of  the  brother  who  was  refused 
baptism  for  his  child,  the  pastor  thought  he 
was  not  possessed  of  a  piety  deep  enough  to 
consecrate  his  child  to  God." 

Naturally  trouble  immediately  began  and  misunder- 
standings came  from  this  austerity  of  Mr.  Clap,  the 
result  of  his  Puritan  training.  In  April,  1728,  an  ecclesias- 
tical council  was  convened,  which  decided  unfavorably  in 
regard  to  Mr.  Clap's  actions.     As  he  refused  to  recognize  the 


167 

authority  of  the  council,  about  one-half  of  the  congregation 
withdrew,  and  April  11,  1728,  organized  the  Second  Congre- 
gational Church  of  Newport,  selecting  as  its  pastor  the  Rev. 
John  Adams. 

This  Second  Church  obtained  the  use  of  the  Tanner 
Street  building,  and  Mr.  Clap  and  his  adherents  met  for 
worship  in  the  parsonage  on  the  northeast  corner  of  Church 
and  Division  Streets.  In  1735  the  Second  Church  erected  a 
commodious  meeting  house  on  Clarke  Street,  which  was  the 
building  in  which  Ezra  Stiles  preached  during  all  of  his 
ministry  in  Newport,  and  which  is  now,  after  many  alter- 
ations, occupied  by  the  S.econd  Baptist  congregation.  Later, 
the  First  Church,  under  Mr.  Clap's  pastorate,  built,  in  1729, 
the  church  on  Mill  Street  above  Spring,  which  has  lately 
been  used  by  an  auctioneer. 

We  may  look  forward  a  little  in  the  history  of  Congre- 
gationalism to  express  our  gratification  that  these  two 
churches  eventually  became  one  again,  on  the  4th  of  June, 
1833,  under  the  title  of  the  United  Congregational  Church  of 
Newport,  which  it  still  bears. 

For  over  twenty  years  the  life  of  Dr.  Stiles  was  closely 
associated  with  all  the  activities  and  interests,  intellectual 
and  religious,  of  the  city  of  Newport.  It  is  impossible  to 
speak  of  him  simply  as  a  preacher  or  pastor  and  not  do 
justice  also  to  the  influence  w^hich  he  exerted  upon  the 
history  of  the  town,  and  to  the  importance  which  the  coming 
into  this  city  and  remaining  here  of  such  an  active,  intel- 
lectual mind  was  to  the  life  of  the  community. 

His  work  here  can  be  judged  both  from  his  own 
record  of  daily  performance  of  duty,  and  perhaps  with  more 
fairness  from  expressed  opinions  of  others.  His  un- 
usually extensive  knowledge,  and  eager  thirst  to 
increase  it,  made  him  a  marked  man  not  only  among  the 
thoughtful  of  his  own  city,  but  wherever  learning  was  appre- 
ciated in  this  country  or  other  lands. 

In  a  letter  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Welles,  he  expresses  his 
feeling  with  reference  to  the  work  he  had  to  do. 

*  'T  am  stationed,"  he  writes,"  in  a  very  ditli- 
cult  part  of  the  Lord's  vineyard,  though  I  thank 


*Holmes,  p.  118 


168 

God  with  great  tranquility  and  happiness  in  my 
flock.  A  prince  has  not  anything  to  bestow 
which  I  should  esteem  of  equal  value  with  the 
prayers  of  my  brethren." 

In  his  work  as  a  pastor,  he  was  one  of  the  first,  if  not 
the  first,  to  inaugurate  what  are  now  known  as  prayer  meet- 
ings.    In  1770,  he  having,  as  he  himself  informs  us, 

*  "Long  had  in  contemplation  to  set  up  a 
monthly  meeting  of  the  church  by  themselves 
to  pray  and  sing  together,  and  to  adapt  a  dis- 
course to  believers  advancing  and  improving  in 
the  religious  life." 

On  January  14,  1770,  he  proposed  the  design.  On  the 
evening  of  the  next  day,  the  church  met  at  his  house,  and 
attended  the  religious  service.  This  elementary  prayer 
meeting  was  regularly  maintained  until  the  dispersion  of 
his  church  in  1775;  and  in  a  sermon  preached  after  his 
death  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Patten,  his  successor,  it  is  stated  that 
"The  memory  of  those  meetings  is  still  imprinted  on  the 
hearts  of  a  number  who  were  interested  in  those  pleasing 
seasons  of  Christian  communication.". 

From  the  numerous  references  in  his  Diary,  and  in  the 
enumeration  of  his  pastoral  calls,  we  may  well  perceive 
that  he  made  himself  a  familiar  figure  in  all  the  households 
of  his  church. 

t  "As  a  pastor,  he  went  regularly  in  and 
out  among  his  people.  The  ease  with  which  he 
adapted  himself  to  persons  in  different  situa- 
tions and  of  various  characters  and  ages  quali- 
fied him  very  much  to  promote  the  interests  of 
religion  in  his  visits.  To  the  children  and  youth 
he  was  affectionately  and  assiduously  atten- 
tive. His  memory  will  doubtless  be  extensively 
preserved  in  the  world,  and  it  will  long  live  in 
this  place.     Scarcely  a  family  nor  an  individual 


*Holmes,  p.  142 
tPatten  Funeral  Sermon 


169 

here  but  has  reason  from  some  office  of  good 
will  to  remember  him.  Not  a  tree  nor  a  brook 
nor  a  scene  around  us  but  has  engaged  his  ob- 
servation," 

As   a   preacher,    he    seems    to   have   been   of   uncommon 
power.     The  Rev.  Dr.  Trumbull  says  of  him, 

*  "His  early  discourses  were  philosophical 
and  moral,  and  at  first  he  was  not  so  much 
admired  as  a  preacher  as  he  was  as  a  friend,  a 
gentleman  and  scholar.  But  gradually  becom- 
ing less  a  Newtonian  and  more  a  Christian,  he 
became  a  serious,  zealous  and  powerful  preach- 
er of  the  truthes  (sic)  of  the  Gospel.  .  .  He  who 
is  convinced  that  the  religion  of  the  Gospel  is 
true,  and  who  has  experimentally  found  it  to 
be  the  power  of  God  to  his  own  salvation,  will 
explain  its  doctrines  and  inculcate  its  precepts 
with  an  energy,  not  easily  imitated  and  never 
equaled,  by  one  who  has  no  such  conviction  of 
the  truth,  and  who  is  a  stranger  to  its  sancti- 
fying influence Furnished  with  a 

rich  treasure  of  learning,  he  made  it  auxiliary, 
as  the  subject  required,  to  the  elucidation  of 
religious  truth,  but  never  displayed  it  in  the 
pulpit  with  ostentation.  Instead  of  aiming  at 
excellence  of  speech  or  of  philosophical  discus- 
sion of  religious  subjects,  he  was  a  plain,  prac- 
tical, pungent  preacher  of  the  Gospel  of  the 
grace  of  God."     ....    and  Dr.  Holmes  adds 

t  "Extensive  as  was  his  Catholicism,  his 
discourses  never  countenanced  prevailing 
errors,  nor  sanctioned  the  opinion  that  religious 
sentiments  are  indifferent.  Averse  to  disputa- 
tion and  scholastic  subtleties  in  divinity,  instead 
of  discussing  theological  subjects  controver- 
sially, he  chose  the  easier  method  of  refuting 


*Holmes,  p.  237 
tHolmes,  p.  237 


170 

error  by  maintaining  truth Hence 

his  sermons  were  instructive  and  pathetic. 
While  to  the  learned  they  were  acceptable  and 
iinproving,  to  the  ignorant  they  were  intelligible 
and  practically  useful.  Such  was  the  attention 
of  the  lower  classes  of  the  communifty  to  his 
discourses,  and  such  the  success  of  his  labors 
among  them  that  he  judged  his  talents  better 
adapted  to  promote  their  improvement  than 
that  of  the  wise  and  great.  He  delighted,  there- 
fore, in  preaching  the  Gospel  to  the  poor." 

His  relation  to  the  intellectual  life  of  the  community  is 
noted  in  various  addresses  and  Diaries.  He  himself  declares 
that  one  of  the  things  which  induced  him  to  come  here  was 
the  existence  of  the  Redwood  Library,  one  of  the  very  few 
then  in  the  country,  and  notable  among  them  for  its  carefully 
selected  books.  Upon  his  being  called  to  Newport,  he  was 
made  an  honorary  member  of  the  Library.  But  evidently 
his  spirit  was  moved  at  the  indifl'erence  with  which  the 
Library  was  treated  at  that  time,  and  he  soon  became  its 
librarian :  for  years  occupying  that  position,  spendng  all 
his  spare  moments  among  its  treasures,  and  as  he  himself 
informs  us,  frequently  for  days  at  a  time  being  tlie  only 
visitor  to  the  building. 

His  relation  with  the  beginnings  of  Brown  University  is. 
most  interesting.  His  correspondence  shows  that  as  early  as 
1761  he  was  endeavoring  to  bring  about  the  foundation  of  a 
college  in  Rhode  Island.  His  hope  was  that  the  two  bodies. 
Baptists  and  Congregationalists,  should  unite  in  such  an 
effort.     But  soon  he  sadly  writes:  — 

*  "The  Baptists  desert  their  junction  with 
the  Congregationalists,  and  engross  all  the 
power  in  the  proposed  Rhode  Island  College  to 
themselves,  after  they  had  agreed  to  share  the 
balances  with  us." 

Tn  regard  to  the  charter  which  was  published  in  the 
Providence  Gazette  for  April  28,  1764,  he  writes. 


*In  a  Diary  belonging  to  Mrs.  Kate  Garnett  Wells,  Sept.  20,  1763. 


171 

"This  charier  was  drafted  by  Mr.  WilHani 
Ellery,  Jr.,  and  myself  before  the  Baptists 
deserted  the  Congregationahsts." 

September  7,  1769,  speaking  of  the  Commencement  of 
the  college  at  Warren,  the  college  which  later  became  Brown 
University,  he  sends  this  letter  "To  the  Chancellor,  Presi  - 
dent.  Fellows  and  Trustees  of  the  College  of  Rhode  Island. 
Gentlemen :  You  will  please  to  accept  my  respectful  ac- 
knowledgments for  the  honor  you  have  done  me  in  electing 
me  one  of  the  Fellows  of  the  College.  I  was  too  sincere  a 
friend  to  literature  not  to  have  taken  part  in  the  institution 
at  first  upon  my  nomination  in  the  charter,  had  I  not  been 
prevented  by  reasons  which  a  subsequent  immediate  election 
could  not  remove;  which  reasons  are  still  of  so  much  weight 
with  me  that  I  beg  leave  to  decline  the  ofTice  to  which  you 
have  invited  me." 

January  3,  1770,  he  says,  "Dr.  Eyres  visited  me  this 
morning,  to  discourse  about  the  place  of  the  Baptist  College. 
He  tells  me  that  Providence  has  subscribed  3,090  pounds,  of 
which  about  2,200  truly  is  conditional  that  the  college  edifice 
be  erected  there  ....  Dr.  Eyres  said  that  the  Newport 
subscription  was  about  nine  thousand  dollars,  but  said  they 
did  not  choose  to  mention  the  amount  exactly,  nor  how  much 
conditionally. 

"The  case  is  this,  Mr.  Redwood  and  some  otliers  have 
said  they  would  give  largely,  in  case  it  was  here,  but  that 
Providence  by  artifice  and  strategem  would  in  event  get  it 
there,  and  yet  would  not  subscribe,  but  will  undoubtedly 
give  liberally.     So  there  is  a  real  uncertainty." 

"May  3,  1770.  The  Baptist  College  was  last  week,  or 
week  before,  voted  to  be  removed  to  Providence." 

With  his  fellow-ministers  of  Newport  he  seems  to  have 
sustained  always  the  pleasantest  relations.  Even  though  he 
may  have  differed  from  them  in  his  opinions,  he  never 
opposed  them  in  his  feelings,  and  always  looked  for  the  good 
rather  than  the  evil,  rejoiced  in  points  of  agreement,  and 
made  as  little  as  possible  of  those  of  disagreement  between 
himself  and  others. 

An  instance  of  this  is  very  notable  in  what  he  himself 


172 

says  of  his  relation  to  Mr.  Samuel  Hopkins,  whose  coming  to 
the  city  caused  a  number  of  their  fellow-ministers  in  the 
Congregational  Church  considerable  anxiety,  as  witness 
this  letter  lo  Dr.  Stiles  from  Rev.  Charles  Chauncey. 

*  "Boston,  November  14,  1769.  I  am  sorrv 
with  my  whole  soul  that  Mr.  Hopkins  is  like  to 
settle  at  Newport.  He  is  a  troublesome,  con- 
ceited, obstinate  man.  He  preached  away 
almost  his  whole  congregation  at  Harrington, 
and  was  the  occasion  of  setting  up  the  Church 
of  England  there.  He  will  preach  away  all  his 
congregation  at  Newport  or  make  them  tenfold 
worse  than  they  are  at  present.  I  wish  his  in- 
stallment could  be  prevented." 

But  Dr.  Stiles,  recognizing  what  he  believed  to  be  the 
true  Christian  spirit  of  Dr.  Hopkins,  welcomed  him  cordially 
as  a  brother  minister,  preached  the  sermon  at  his  installa- 
tion; and  during  all  the  time  that  they  were  together  in  the 
city,  continued  on  terms  of  the  greatest  friendship  and  sym- 
pathy, although  they  could  easily  have  found  occasions  for 
difference  had  they  so  desired. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  of  his  ministerial  relations 
was  that  with  the  Jewish  Rabbi.  With  his  thirst  for 
learning.  Dr.  Stiles  instinctively  selected  that  one  among  his 
fellow-ministers  who  could  be  of  the  most  use  in  increasing 
his  knowledge.  He  attended  the  services  of  the  Synagogue, 
and  soon  entered  upon  a  friendly  acquaintance.  He  became 
the  pupil  of  the  Rabbi  in  the  study  of  Hebrew,  and  of  the 
history  of  the  Jews. 

Nor  did  he  confine  his  Jewish  studies  to  his  relation  with 
this  resident  of  Newport,  but  corresponded  in  Hebrew  with 
learned  Jews  in  different  parts  of  the  world,  in  1773  forming 
an  acquaintance  with  Haijin  Isaac  Carigal,  a  learned  Rabbi, 
a  native  of  Hebron  in  the  Holy  Land.  A  long  correspon- 
dence was  carried  on  between  them. 

In  1772  we  find  him  writing  a  letter  in  Latin  to  the  Rev. 
Dr.   Busch,   a  Moravian   minister  in   Astrakhan,    near   the 


•Itinerary,  p.  450 


173 

Caspian  Sea,  the  object  of  the  letter  being  to  make  inquiries 
concerning  the  ten  tribes  of  Jews  who  he  was  convinced  by 
the  prophets  would  yet  be  restored  to  the  Holy  Land.  He 
believed  that  they  must  be  somewhere  existing  distinctly 
among  some  nations  of  the  earth. 

*  "Modern  voyages  and  travels,"  he  ob- 
serves, "have  laid  open  almost  all  countries 
and  their  inhabitants  except  the  interior  and 
most  remote  regions  of  Asia,  which  lay  between 
the  River  Volga  and  the  Simensian  Empire,  or 
from  the  Caspian  Sea  toward  the  east,  and  from 

India  toward  the  north."  That  tract  he  most  ardently 
wished  might  be  thoroughly  explored,  in  which  he  judged 
these  tribes  had  hitherto  remained  concealed,  and  would 
hereafter  be  found;  and  in  connection  therewith  he  goes 
into  a  long  history  of  the  Jewish  people  and  of  the  lost 
tribes,  covering  ten  quarto  pages,  and  adds, 

"St.  Thomas  found  a  Hebrew  damsel  singing  Hebrew 
psalms  at  the  court  of  an  Indian  prince  at  Cranganor,  near 
Cochin." 

Not  only  did  he  attend  the  services  in  the  Synagogue,  but 
the  Rabbi  came  upon  at  least  one  occasion  to  hear  a  sermon 
from  Dr.  Stiles  on  "The  dispensations  of  God  toward  his 
chosen  people,  and  the  glory  of  the  Messiah's  Kingdom."  It 
was  the  first  sermon  which  the  Jew  had  ever  heard  fr(»m  a 
Christian  preacher. 

In  December  2,  1763,  in  his  Diary  he  writes, 
"In  the  afternoon  was  the  dedication  of  the  new  Syna- 
gogue in  this  town.  It  began  by  a  handsome  procession,  in 
which  were  carried  the  Books  of  the  Law,  to  be  deposited  in 
the  ark.  Several  portions  of  Scripture  and  of  their  service, 
with  a  prayer  for  the  Royal  family  were  read  and  finely  sung 
by  the  priest  and  people.  There  were  present  many  gentle- 
men and  ladies.  The  order  and  decorum,  the  harmony  and 
solemnity  of  the  music,  together  with  a  handsome  assembly 
of  people,  in  an  edifice  the  most  perfect  of  the  temple  kind, 
perhaps,  in  America,  and  splendidly  illuminated,  could  not 

♦Holmes,  p.  158 


174 

but  raise  in  the  mind  a  faint  idea  of  the  majesty  and 
grandeur  of  the.  ancient  Jewish  worship  mentioned  in 
Scripture.  Dr.  Isaac  de  Abraham  Touro  performed  the 
service." 

With  his  tendency  to  magnify  points  of  agreement  and 
to  minimize  points  of  disagreement  between  the  ditTerent 
Christian  bodies,  we  may  well  understand  that  he  would  fre- 
quently exert  himself  to  bring  about  a  better  understanding. 

*  "It  has  been  a  principle  with  me  for 
thirty-five  years  past  to  walk  and  live  in  a 
decent,  civil  and  respectful  communication  with 
all,  although  in  some  of  our  sentiments,  in 
philosophy,  religion  and  politics  of  diametri- 
cally opposite  opinion;  hence  I  can  freely  live 
and  converse  in  civil  friendship  with  Jews, 
Romanists,  and  all  the  sects  of  Protestants,  and 
even  with  Deists.  I  am  all  along  blamed  by 
bigots  for  this  liberality,  though  I  think  none 
impeach  me  of  hypocrisy.  I  have  my  own 
judgment  and  do  not  conceal  it  " 

He  was  always  much  interested  in  any  possible  union  of 
dififerent  branches  of  the  church.  In  1759,  when  a  young 
man,  he  brought  the  idea  prominently  forward  in  a  letter. 
The  next  year  he  delivered  before  the  Convention  of  Con- 
gregational Ministers  of  Rhode  Island  a  discourse  on  Chris- 
tian Union,  in  closing  which  he  presents  a  fascinating  pic- 
ture of  the  condition  when  all  the  churches  of  New  England 
shall  be  united  into  one. 

This  discourse,  which  was  printed  and  became  famous, 
roused  considerable  enthusiasm  in  the  ininds  of  a  number 
of  the  Congregationalists  of  New  England,  but,  alas,  it  was 
on  too  high  a  plane  to  suit  most,  and  to  a  great  degree 
failed  of  its  object. 

It  was  but  a  few  years  after  his  settlement  in  Newport 
that  the  question  of  the  relation  of  the  colonies  to  the 
mother  country  became  acute,  and  no  one  took  a  more  keen 


♦Holmes,  p.  274 


1/0 

interest  in  the  question,  or  more  freely  uttered  his  opinion 
than  did  Dr.  Stiles. 

Some  quotations  from  his  Diary  and  letters  may  well  be 
made.  His  first  criticisms  upon  the  British  policy  that  I  have 
come  across  were  written  in  the  year  1759,  in  a  letter  to  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Gumming  of  Edinburgh. 

*  "For  us  in  New  England,"  he  writes,  "to 
be  harassed  with  even  the  most  moderate 
Episcopacy,  at  least  to  have  it  imposed  upon 
us,  whose  fathers  fled  hither  for  exilement,  is 

perfectly  cruel Free  incjuiry  has  made 

such  progress  as  must  inevitably  pull  down  all 
ecclesiastical  polities  not  founded  in  the  sacred 
Scriptures.  ...  It  would  be  more  agreeable 
to  this  country  if  Presbyterians  and  Dissenters 
were  not  precluded  from  offices  and  employ- 
ments in  the  gift  of  the  Crown  or  the  provincial 
governors." 

In  1760,  in  a  sermon  preached  on  a  day  of  Thanksgiving 
in  consequence  of  the  surrender  of  Montreal,  he  said, 

t  "It  is  probable  that  in  time  there  will  be 
formed  a  provincial  confederacy  and  a  common 
council,  standing  on  free  provincial  suffrage, 
and  this  may  in  time  terminate  in  an  imperial 
diet,  where  the  imperial  dominion  will  subsist 
as  it  ought,  in  election." 

This  is  probably  one  of  the  earliest  public  statements  of 
opinion  regarding  freedom  in  this  country. 

Liberty  Day  was  celebrated  in  Newport  March  18,  1769, 
the  anniversary  of  the  King's  signing  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp 
Act.     Of  this  anniversary  celebration.  Dr.  Stiles  writes, 

$  "At  dawn  of  day  colors  or  a  large  flag 
was  hoisted  and  displayed  on  the  top  of  the  tree 


*Holmes,  p.  76 

tidem,  p.  100 

jThis  and  the  following  quotations  are  from  the  Diary 


176 

of  liberty,  and  another  on  the  mast  of  Hberty  at 
the  Point  at  the  same  time.  My  bell  began  and 
continued  ringing  till  sunrise.  About  nine 
o'clock  A.M.  the  bell  of  the  First  Congregational 
Church  began  to  ring,  and  rang  an  hour  or  two. 
The  Episcopal  Church  bell  struck  a  few  strokes 
and  then  stopped,  the  Episcopalians  being 
averse  to  the  celebration." 

An  interesting  event  occurred  in  the  year  1770.  It  was 
customary  for  the  clergymen  of  the  Church  of  England  to 
preach  a  sermon  on  the  30th  of  January  in  commemoration 
of  the  martyrdom,  as  they  called  it,  of  Charles  I.  The 
return  of  this  day  awakened  Dr.  Stiles'  indignation  at  the 
operations  of  the  arbitrary  king  of  England,  and  occasioned 
remarks  worthy  of  an  enlightened  and  ardent  friend  of 
liberty. 

"This  day,"  he  writes,  "if  observed  at  all, 
should  be  celebrated  as  an  anniversary  of 
Thanksgiving,  or  memorial  that  one  nation  on 
earth  had  so  much  fortitude  and  public  justice 
as  to  make  a  royal  tyrant  bow  to  the  sovereignty 
of  the  people,  to  institute  a  judicial  trial  of  a 
monarch,  and  sentence  him  to  the  punishment 
of  the  execution  which  he  merited." 

In  regard  to  this  sermon,  his  father-in-law,  John  Hub- 
bard, of  New^  Haven,  A\Tote  to  him  on  the  15th  of  March, 

"We  have  a  story  here  that  you  disobliged 
the  Episcopalians  of  Newport  by  a  thirtieth  of 
January  sermon,  and  that  you  are  like  to  be 
trounced  for  it,  as  their  phrase  is.  I  hope  the 
matter  is  much  magnified.  Please  to  let  me 
know  the  event." 

He  again,  however,  on  the  25th  of  July,  writes, 

"I  thank  you  for  your  sermon,  and  am 
better  acquainted  with  King  Charles  than  ever  I 


177 

was  before,  and  were  I  to  take  my  idea  of  a 
martyr  from  him,  should  have  as  mean  an 
opinion  of  him  as  I  have  of  some  of  the  clergy." 

Upon  the  death  of  George  II  and  the  accession  of  George 
III  in  1772,  he  had  still  more  to  say  concerning  the  relation 
of  New  England  to  the  Crown,  and  in  a  letter  to  a  Mrs.  Mc- 
Cauley  in  England,  he  writes, 

*  "Every  step  she  (England)  has  taken  for 
some  years  past,  at  least  the  general  system  of 
colony  administration,  has  had  as  direct  a  ten- 
dency to  accelerate  events  which  she  should 
keep  at  a  distance  as  if  projected  from  the 
deep  laid  policy  of  the  Conclave.  It  is  most 
firmly  believed  here  that  Providence  intends  a 
glorious  empire  in  America." 

And  when  one  year  later,  1773,  the  people  of  Rhode 
Island  burned  the  "Gaspee",  Dr.  Stiles  writes  that  he  is  "glad 
to  find  that  the  sons  of  liberty  in  other  colonies  felt  the  attack 
upon  us,  which  is  equally  a  stroke  at  universal  American 
liberty.  I  have  perfect  confidence  that  the  future  millions 
of  America  will  emancipate  themselves  from  foreign  oppres- 
sion." 

"June  30,  1774.  Day  of  public  fasting  and 
prayer  through  the  Colony  of  Rhode  Island,  by 
order  of  Assembly,  on  account  of  the  threat- 
ening aspect  of  public  affairs,  the  acts  of  Par- 
liament respecting  America,  and  particularly 
on  account  of  blocking  up  the  port  of  Boston. 
I  preached  P.  M.  from  Esther  4:3,  'There  was 
great  fasting  and  weeping  and  mourning,  and 
many  lay  in  sackcloth  and  in  ashes,'  to  a  very 
crowded  assembly  of  all  denominations.  The 
day  was  kept  in  town  very  universally,  not 
above  half  a  dozen  shops  open  in  all  the  town. 
Mr.  Bissett,  the  Church  of  England  clergyman, 
took  his  text  'Fast  not  as  the  hypocrites,'  and 
preached  a  high  Tory  sermon,  inveighing  by 
allusions  against  Boston  and  New  England  as  a 
turbulent  ungoverned  people.      The  other  con- 

♦Holmes,  p.  163 


178 

gregations  in  town  were  heartily  in  the  cause 
of  hberty.  The  Baptists  seem  to  have  little 
interest  in  the  fast." 

In  1774,  November  5th,  he  records  the  parading  the 
streets  and  burning  in  efTigy  of  Lord  North,  Governor  Hutch- 
inson and  General  Gage.  Again  in  November  30th  of  that 
year,  in  speaking  of  the  attempt  of  the  French  to  dissuade 
from  war,  he  adds, 

"Great  efforts  are  made  by  the  ministry  and 
.  their  connections  in  America  to  detach  the 
Baptists  and  Quakers  throughout  America  from 
the  Continental  Union,  and  also  the  body  of 
Episcopalians  interspersed  through  the  prov- 
inces north  of  Maryland,  and  with  too 
much  success.  A  languor  prevails  through  these 
bodies.  The  defence  and  conservation  of  the 
public  liberty  stands  on  the  union  of  the  south- 
ern Episcopalians  and  the  grand  universal  body 
of  Congregationals  and  Presbyterians  through- 
out the  Continent.  Perhaps  the  Baptists  may 
open  their  eyes,  but  there  is  no  hope  of  the 
Quakers." 

April  25,  1775,  he  notes, 

"Governor  Ward  yesterday  wrote  a  letter 
to  Messrs.  Malbone,  received  today,  advising  the 
merchants  to  get  their  vessels  to  sea  or  out  of 
New  England  with  all  speed,  and  recommend- 
ing to  the  people  of  Newport  to  remove  them- 
selves and  effects  speedily,  as  there  was  certain 
danger  of  immediate  seizure.  This  has  thrown 
the  town  into  great  consternation  and  panic, 
and  many  are  all  day  putting  up  their  effects 
and  preparing  for  removal.  To  lieighten  the 
terror,  the  men  of  war  give  out  that  if  Newport 
takes  part  with  Providence  and  New  England, 
they  will  lay  the  town  in  ashes." 

"October  8,  1775.  Lord's  Day.  Preached 
on  Lamentations  1:4,5.     'The  ways  of  Zion  do 


179 


mourn.'  This  is  a  most  sorrowful  Sabbath.  In 
the  afternoon  there  were  about  sixty-six  persons 
below,  and  thirty-five  in  the  galleries.  My  usual 
congregation  three  or  four  hundred.  We  had 
a  mournful  meeting.  This  morning  we  heard 
that  Capt.  Wallace  with  his  fleet  fired  on  the 
town  of  Bristol  last  night.  An  inhuman  wretch. 
"October  9th.  This  day  I  removed  one 
load  of  my  books  and  furniture.  The  carting  of 
goods  and  removing  of  people  continued  all 
day  yesterday,  and  yet  continues.  The  infernal 
Wallace,  with  three  men  of  war  and  other 
vessels,  a  fleet  of  perhaps  eight  sail,  is  firing 
away  to  the  northward,  and  spreading,  or 
aiming  to  spread,  terror  through  the  bay.  It 
is  judged  that  two-thirds  of  the  inhabitants  of 
this  town  are  removed  up  the  island. 

"10th  and  11th.  Spirit  of  removal  nearly 
ceasing,  though  some  continue  still  removing. 
These  removals  continued  for  several  days.  By 
the  nineteenth,  three-quarters  of  the  property 
and  inhabitants  had  removed,  most  of  the  shops 
shut  up,  many  houses  shut,  many  more  with 
only  one  or  two  persons  to  keep  them;  for  the 
fortnight  past  as  much  as  forty  or  fifty  teams 
being  daily  employed,  besides  horse  carts  and 
boats. 

"23rd  October.  This  afternoon  the  rem- 
nant of  my  society  met  and  judged  it  expedient 
to  discontinue  the  public  worship  in  my  meet- 
ing house  for  the  winter,  considering  the  pres- 
ent evacuated  and  distressed  and  tumultuous 
state  of  the  town.  They  all  recommended  and 
consented  to  my  removal  to  Bristol  for  present 
safety. 

"November  2nd.  Sent  off  a  second  load 
of  goods,  being  part  of  my  library  and  furni- 
ture. 

"December  11,  1776.  The  English  officers 
are  taking  up  houses  for  barracks,  and  among 


180 

others  have  taken  my  house  and  meeting  house 
which  last  it  is  said  they  intend  to  make  an 
assembly  room  for  balls,  etc.,  after  taking  down 
the  pews. 

"December  26,  1776.  I  reviewed  the  town 
of  Newport  from  memory  and  found  the  num- 
ber of  names  of  men  with  families  now  remain- 
ing in  the  whole  town  but  260.  This  confirms 
my  judgment  that  two-thirds  evacuated  last 
year,  in  1775.  In  the  spring  enumeration  was 
made,  9200  souls  in  town.  At  six  to  a  family, 
this  would  be  fifteen  hundred  families,  but  truly 
there  were  eighteen  hundred;    now  but  260.  " 

After  the  departure  of  the  British  he  returned  for  a  visit. 

1780,  May  21.  Lord's  Day.  I  preached  to 
my  dear  flock  in  the  rooms  of  my  meeting 
house.  Psalm  36.7  'How  excellent  is  thy  mercy, 
oh  Lord,  etc'  We  had  sixty-six  benches,  con- 
taining five  or  six  persons  each,  making  a 
congregation  of  three  hundred  and  fifty  persons, 
about  two-thirds  of  which  were  my  flock.  1 
judge  two-thirds  of  my  congregation  are  return- 
ing to  Newport.  The  enemy  had  run  up  a 
chiinney  in  the  middle  of  the  meeting  house, 
and  demolished  all  the  pews  and  seats  below 
and  in  the  galleries,  but  they  left  the  pulpit 
standing,  though  they  destroyed  the  pulpit  in 
the  Presbyterian  meeting  house  and  in  two  Bap- 
tist meetings.  My  little  zealous  flock  took  down 
the  chimney  and  cleared  the  meeting  house,  and 
then  procured  some  benches  and  tables  made 
for  the  King's  troops'  entertainments,  and  left 
behind,  so  that  we  attended  Divine  service  very 
conveniently,  though  with  a  pleasure  inter- 
mixed with  tender  grief. 

"May  28.  I  preached  and  baptized  William 
Ellery  Channing,  son  of  Hon.  William  Chan- 
ning,  Esq.,  Attorney  General  of  Rhode  Island. 


181 

31  May.  I  took  a  melancholy  farewell,  and 
left  Newport  on  return  for  New  Haven.  About 
three  hundred  dwelling  houses  I  judge  have 
been  destroyed  in  Newport.  The  town  is  in 
ruins.  I  rode  over  the  Island,  and  found  the 
the  beautiful  rows  of  trees  which  lined  the  road, 
with  sundry  coppices,  groves  and  orchards  cut  « 
down  and  laid  waste,  but  the  natural  beauties 
of  the  place  still  remain,  and  I  doubt  not  the 
place  will  be  rebuilt,  and  exceed  its  former 
splendor." 

And  this  is  his  Valedictory  to  Newport, 

"February  1,  1781.  Very  lamentable  is  the 
state  of  religion  in  Newport,  and  particularly 
that  they  will  not  attend  public  worship.  One 
occasion  of  this  negligence  is  Brother  Hopkins' 
new  divinity.  He  has  preached  his  own  congre- 
gation almost  away,  or  into  an  indifference. 
He  has  fifty  or  sixty  families  or  more  of  his  own 
congregation  in  town,  and  might  easily  com- 
mand a  good  assembly,  if  his  preaching  were  as 
acceptable  as  his  moral  character." 

The  pastorate  of  Dr.  Stiles  in  Newport  had  thus  ended 
in  1777,  when  the  English  took  possession  of  the  city.  But 
he  was  not  to  be  left  without  a  place  of  labor,  for  immedi- 
ately a  church  in  Providence  sent  him  a  most  flattering  call 
to  become  its  pastor,  also  a  church  in  Taunton,  and  a  little 
later  a  prominent  church  in  Portsmouth,  New  Hampshire. 
The  latter  he  finally  accepted  as  a  temporary  labor. 

But  very  soon  another  and  far  more  important  position 
was  offered  to  him.  The  first  intimation  came  in  a  letter 
from  the  Rev.  Dr.  Dana,  of  Wallingford,  written  on  the  25th 
of  August,  1777. 

*  "Reverend  and  Dear  Sir:  There  is  reason 
to  believe  that  you  may  soon  be  invited  to  the 
presidency  of  Yale  College.  I  must  entreat  you 
not  to  engage  at  Porstmouth  for  any  length  of 
time;  Providence  is  about  to  call  you  to  a 
higher  trust." 

*Diary,  Sept.  17,  1777 


182 

Another  letter  from  Mr.  Whittlesey,  Secretary  of  t\c 
Corporation  of  the  College,  September  13th,  says, 

"I  take  the  earliest  opportunity  to  inform 
you  that  the  corporation  of  our  Almse  Matris 
this  week  made  choice  of  you  president  of  the 
College." 

In  regard  to  this  Dr.  Stiles  writes,  September  19,  1777. 

"My  election  to  the  presidency  of  Yale  Col- 
lege is  an  unexpected  and  wonderful  ordering 
of  Divine  Providence;  not  but  that  it  has  been 
talked  of  for  years  past,  but  I  knew  such  reasons 
in  the  breasts  of  the  Fellows,  and  I  thought 
such  were  the  sentiments  of  the  assembly  and 
the  plurality  of  the  pastors  regarding  my  ideas 
in  ecclesiastical  polities  and  doctrinal  systems 
of  Divinity  as  that  it  was  impossible  I  should 
be  elected." 

After  several  letters  and  visits  from  interested  persons, 
he  writes  the  corporation  of  the  College  on  the  2nd  of 
October, 

"I  have  thought  it  prudent  and  expedient  to 
make  a  journey  into  Connecticut,  and  refer  the 
matter  to  further  consideration  when  I  have 
had  an  interview  with  the  corporation  at  their 
meeting  next  month." 

That  interview  seems  to  have  been  satisfactory,  and 
although  he  delayed  his  answer  still  again  for  a  short  time, 
he  finally  in  August,  1778,  wrote  to  the  corporation  accepting 
the  presidency:*  in  the  meantime  having  wrilien  to  his 
Newport  congregation  and  to  many  of  his  fellow-ministers 
for  their  opinion. 

The  answer  from  the  Newport  congregation  was  a  letter 
written  January  30,  1778,  by  Mr.  Benjamin  Ellery,  brother  of 
William  Ellery,  the  Signer. 

"Your  little  flock,  deprived  of  part  of  their 
property,  and  scattered  about  the  country,  will 


^Diary,  February  12,  1778 


183 

not  probably  all  of  thcni  ever  collect  again,  and 
should  the  major  part  return  to  Newport,  their 
circumstances  will  be  so  reduced  that  however 
willing  they  may  be,  it  will  not  be  in  their  power 
to  afford  you  such  a  living  as  you  deserve.  I 
think,  therefore,  it  will  be  best  for  you  to  accept 
the  invitation  to  the  presidency  of  Yale  College, 
and  if  I  could  conceive  the  prayers  of  such  a 
worm  of  the  dust  as  I  am  to  the  Deity  would  be 
of  any  service  to  you,  I  would  add  them  for  your 
health,  happiness  and  prosperity." 

And  the  ministers  to  whom  he  referred  the  question  had 
unanimously  expressed  their  opinion  that  he  should  accept 
the  position. 

From  1778  to  1795  he  held  the  office  of  president  of  Yale 
College,  and  there  is  need  to  say  nothing  here  regarding 
the  success  of  his  administration.  When  he  entered  upon 
his  labors  the  College  was  greatly  reduced,  in  fact  almost  to 
the  vanishing  point,  on  account  of  the  Revolution,  but  when 
he  left  it,  it  was  a  flourishing  and  influential  institution. 

The  extent  and  variety  of  his  scholarship  is  evidenced 
from  the  fact  that  at  different  times  when  it  became  neces- 
sary, he  filled  the  chairs  of  the  professor  in  Mathematics,  of 
Natural  Philosophy  and  Astronomy,  of  Mental  and  Moral 
Philosophy,  and  of  Ecclesiastical  History;  all,  we  are  told, 
in  a  most  satisfactory  manner. 

It  may  interest  us  to  read  in  his  Diary  of  March  15,  1781, 

"I  received  of  Mr.  Cook  five  hundred  dollars 
in  silver  and  gold,  on  account  of  rents  of  Dean 
Berkeley's  Farm  at  Rhode  Island,  given  to  the 
College." 

An  opinion  concerning  him  which  is  not  without 
interest,  however  absurd,  is  expressed  in  the  following 
extract  of  a  letter  from  a  foreigner  in  New  Haven  to  his 
friend  in  New  York,  published  in  the  New  York  Morning 
Post  August  9,  1787. 


184 

"On  Thursday  last  the  remains  of  Rev. 
Chauncey  Whittlesey  were  interred.  I  attended 
this  funeral,  and  at  the  brick  meeting  house,  the 
place  of  interment,  a  fulsome  farrago  of  non- 
sense, called  here  a  funeral  sermon,  was 
preached  forth  by  one  of  the  crop-earred  breth- 
ren, generally  designated  among  the  devout  by 
the  name  of  Pious  Ezra.  This  curious  eulogium 
consisted  of  the  most  perfect  adulation  to  the 
deceased,  bordering  even  on  impiety,  the  whole 
well  larded  with  texts  of  Scripture,  which  were 
haled  in  by  the  head  and  shoulders  at  every 
other  sentence,  whether  applicable  or  not.  The 
sermon  was  upon  the  Parable  of  the  Talents." 

On  the  8th  of  May,  1795,  Dr.  Stiles  was  seized  with  a 
bilious  fever,  and  at  four  in  the  afternoon  on  the  12th,  as  his 
hopes  of  this  world  lessened  and  those  of  Heaven  bright- 
ened, he  took  an  affecting  leave  of  his  family,  and  expired  at 
half  after  eight  in  the  evening,  in  the  sixty-ninth  year  of  his 
age. 

The  funeral  was  held  in  the  brick  meeting  house,  which 
was  crowded  with  the  officers  of  the  University,  clergymen 
and  other  distinguished  neighbors.  Dr.  Dana  preached  the 
sermon  on  the  text  "In  my  Father's  house  are  many  man- 
sions," in  which  he  declares, 

"The  Ministry  lament  one  who  was  their 
brightest  ornament,  the  Church  lament  the 
truest  friend  of  their  religious  order,  the  State 
and  Nation  lament  the  friend  of  their  rights,  the 
friends  of  Science  and  Liberty,  of  candor,  of 
their  country,  and  mankind,  lament  the  loss  to 
the  world." 

In  a  newspaper  obituary  published  at  that  time,  it  is 
written, 

"Of  such  an  assemblage  of  varied  excel- 
lence in  a  single  person,  the  world  has  afforded 
but  few  examples." 


p„„e,on  Theolog.wl  Se«>,nar,-Spee,   Ub,a., 


T  1012  01114  7230 


DATE    DUE 

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GAYLORD 

PRINTED  IN  U  S  A 

